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RECOLLECTIONS 



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BEFORE SEBASTOPOL 



EDITED BT 



Dr. FELIX ^MAYNARD, 

Ex-Sanitary Physician. 
TBAN8L4.TED PROM THE FKENCH, 

BY MRS. M. HARRISON ROBINSON. 




"^ PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY HAYES Sc ZELL, 

No. 193 MARKET STREET. 
18 5 G. 




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ACCEPT, HONORED MASTER, 

THE DEDICATION OF THIS BOOK, WHICH OWES ITS EXISTENCE 

SOLELY TO TOUR BENEVOLENT PATRONAGE. 

I HATE, AT PRESENT, 

NO OTHER MEANS OF TESTIFYING TO YOU MY 

INFINITE GRATITUDE. 

^r. <f elk P^agnarh. 

Paris,Sept. 25th, 1855. 



CONTENTS. 



-♦♦»- 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure from Constantinople — Passengers — Ship-board 
Politics — Trumpeter of the Zouaves 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Prodigy of Resection — The Ambuscade — The Charge — 
Ball in the Shoulder — Ambulance — Kamiesh 39 

CHAPTER III. 

Lady Jocelyn — The Passage — My Comrade — Our Bed- 
chamber — Parisian Russe — Russian Boots — The Bos- 
phorus 60 

CHAPTER IT. 

Constantinople— Hospital — Saint Martha Ward — Sister 
Prudence — Ball leaves me — Copper gooseberries — 
Operation — Obedience — Illness of Sister Prudence — 
Delirium 82 

CHAPTER T. 
Sisters of Charity — Sailor — Gossip— Schtschegoleffs . 98 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER YI. 

Corporal Genty — Polonese Colonel — The Traitor — 
FoutH — Star of the Bazaar 123 

CHAPTER YII. 

Night Skirmishers — Gourmand Corporal — Faubourg — 
Radishes and Salad 146 

CHAPTER YIII. 

English before Malakoff — Tente-abri — Menage — Mocha- 
does Carpet — Chimney-flue — Blanc-Blanc — Greyhound 
— Drums — White Goat of 23rd Royal Fusileers of 
Wales — Camel — Rata 154 

CHAPTER IX. 

Convalescence—Wounded of Malakoff— Comrade Berthier 
— Night on the Battle-field — Wounded Prisoners. 182 

CHAPTER X. 

Why I am a Trumpeter — Glory of the Office — Snow- 
Storm — Night of Shrove-Tuesday 198 

CHAPTER XI. 

Trenches — Clocheton House — Mademoiselle's Cat... 213 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Famished Invalid — Sick, Wounded and Hospitals of 
Constantinople — Gallipoli 239 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Fire — Combat of March 23rd —Commander Dumas- 
Armistice- Yultures — Common Crave 258 

CHAPTER XIY. 
Repose — Sewing — Reading — Ennui 276 

CHAPTER XIY. 

Post-preface—Return to France— The Joliette— Fall of 

Sebastopol — Encounter of One-armed Trumpeter 

Soldier's Sacrifice— His Promise 288 



m 



EECOLLECTION"S 



ZOUAYE BEFORE SEBASTOPOL 



CHAPTEE I. 

DEPARTURE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE. — PASSENGERS. — SHIP- 
BOARD POLITICS. — ZOUAVE TRUMPETER. 

The Imperial Mail Steam Packet, Nil^ is in 
readiness to put to sea from the Bosphorus, 
laden with three hundred and fifty soldiers of 
the Army in the East ; some discharged as 
invalided, others to be transferred to the regi- 
mental depot in France, or sent to their families 
on sick leave. 

The Nil not being installed as a regular ship- 
hospital, our human cargo must needs pass ten 
days and nights in the open air, with the deck 
as their only camp-bed. 

I am mistaken ; such of these men (evacuants 
of the ambulances and hospitals) as feel strength 
enough in their wrists to hang by the end of a 
rope, let themselves down into the hold on the 



10 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

forward deck, the only place in the vessel where 
passengers of the fourth class find a shelter. 
There they may sleep on a thick litter of hay, 
but must be content with the little air and light 
which the half open hatch- way of the forecastle 
allows to penetrate these catacombs. The third- 
class passengers, non-commissioned officers chiefly, 
occupy a square state room, with twelve berths, 
between the sky-lights of the machinery and the 
foremast. 

The second-class saloon is appropriated to 
civilians, and ofl&cers of the army and navy, to 
the grade of captain inclusive ; to superior and 
general of&cers, appertained the sumptuous saloon 
of the first class, with its comfortable cabins, as 
also to passengers paying adequately. 

The rain falls in torrents as the barge Thopana 
brings us the invalids alongside. They embark, 
receiving, stoically, the heavy showers. The 
tent erected on the forward deck is useless; 
saturated with water, it only serves as a sieve to 
the deluge. This would be but a small travel- 
ling inconvenience to men that had passed the 
winter beneath the narrow canvas of a tent 
cover, had they not just issued from the hospi- 
tals. 

Another aggravating circumstance. The com- 
missaries accompanying them have forgotten to 
provide them with blankets, but our commander 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 11 

pushes ashore, and demands fonr hundred from 
the military stores. It was no more than justice 
and humanity. 

Then, as soon as each one had received his 
dingy Cashmere blanket, to protect him from 
the humid nights of an open sky, the Nil 
launches forth, all steam on, coasting the sea of 
Marmora. 

Since travelling Eastward, I always attach 
recollections of past peregrinations to the occur- 
rences of the present one, and institute, in my 
memory, a gallery of portraits and pictures, 
adding to these a legend borrowed from conver- 
sations on board; for men become talkative 
aboard ship. I have, sometimes, heard diplo- 
mats, generals and personages of rank, carried 
away by an irresistible need of expansion, recount 
what they would not have dared to repeat on 
shore, unveil the mystery of certain political 
combinations, and reveal secrets that might be 
justly entitled those of state. 

A day will come perhaps, when, without cul- 
pable indiscretion, it will be permitted me, not 
to betray these communications, for a confidence 
is a sacred thing in my eyes, but to recount in 
my turn, what I have had so much pleasure in 
hearing related. 

In the meanwhile, I institute myself the echo 
of the forecastle chronicles. 



12 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

A word, "however, as to the aft passengers, 
aristocrats of the first class, as thej are terraed : — 
Officers (as you know) under the grade of Chief 
of battalion, have no right to the principal saloon 
— Ensigns, Lieutenants and Captains inhabit the 
inferior saloon, but I have occasionally seen 
some exceptions to this rule tolerated. Last 
year, for instance. Captain Kleinenberg, Aid de 
Camp to General d'Elchingen, and Michel d'El- 
chingen, his son, then a non-commissioned 
officer of the 7th dragoons, were admitted to 
the principal saloon. They were bearing to 
France the heart of General d'Elchingen, who 
had died of cholera at Gallipoli. 

English officers of every grade, with their 
guineas, were exempt from this proscription, 
and are always numeron.s on our packets, which 
they find more comfortable than those of their 
own nation. 

Our subaltern officers ought to enjoy the same 
prerogative, paying for it, of course ; the com- 
pany of mail contractors do not oppose it ; 
the interdict emanates not from them, it is a 
ministerial decree. 

Twenty -four guests are seated at the table of 
the Staff, all passengers, except the Commander 
of the vessel, the mail agent and myself, the 
Sanitary Physician. The Commander occupies 
the upper end of the table, the Agent the centre, 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 13 

I the otlier extremity, opposite the Commander; 
on whose right, sits an English Colonel, on his 
left, two French Chiefs of Battalion ; then come 
a general pay-master, a senior Surgeon of the 
army, the Captain of a frigate, an American 
Officer a tourist returning from the seige, a 
Courier of the Queen of England, a speculator or 
rather a blood-sucker from Kamiesh, who left 
Algeria last year with a stock of sardines in 
casks, and rancid sausages, on his way back to 
Marseilles with 100,000 francs. The other places 
are occupied by English, officers of every grade, 
and perfect gentlemen. 

The Heads of Battalion, the Surgeon, frigate 
Captain, Intendant and Paymaster were on the 
way to France, to fill posts already designated. 
It is the same with the English. No person, 
except the Priest, is quitting the East on sick 
furlough. 

Accordingly, the frankest, most lively gaiety 
reigns during the repast, and our cook's talent 
is duly appreciated, especially as the sea is calm, 
and the ship runs at ten knots without pitching 
and rolling. 

I have made many voyages where mourning 
and distress predominated. This passage, there- 
fore, would have seemed like a party of pleasure, 
if forward as well as aft, on deck as in the 
cabins, prevailed health and comfort. 



14 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

But not so ! above, are more than three hun- 
dred and fifty suffering in every way, lying on a 
hard couch, under the open sky, and nourished 
by a paltry speculator of a cook, who, despite 
the Commander's vigilance and severity, finds 
opportunity of realizing large profits out of 
seventy-five centimes or a little more, which the 
Government allows as daily maintenance of a 
travelling soldier. I hasten to observe that the 
Mail Company are not accomplices in these 
odious speculations. On the contrary, should a 
passenger, rich or poor, wish to complain of his 
fare, there is a register on board, where each 
may indicate his wrongs, and immediately the 
guilty person is expelled by the Company from 
their ship. 

Our soldiers, divided into messes, domiciliate 
themselves on deck as industriously as possible, 
each group preserving during the voyage the 
place selected at setting out. 

Those, thinking themselves more cunning than 
the rest, taking a position to windward, but to- 
morrow the wind may change, and they will reap 
all the disadvantages of the leeward. The pro- 
blem to solve is, that when seated, every one 
may have also a support to the back. Thus, 
there remained not the least space vacant along 
the bulwarks, the windlass and base of the state 



EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 15 

room appropriated to the third class, and the 
kitchen. 

During the day it is not permitted this flock 
of soldiers to pass beyond the foot of the main- 
mast aftward, but at evening, the whole deck 
belongs to them, nor is it too spacious an arena 
for three hundred and fifty sleepers, exceedingly 
like corpses packed in a sarplier, whenever the 
jets of flame, rising every instant to the top of 
the engine chimney, illumined the darkness with 
a transient light. 

The Zouaves and sailors have found means, or 
tried a method as they say, of creating comfort, 
where Johnny of the line would never have 
suspected the possibility of discovering the 
simplest elements. 

Behold a one-armed Zouave associated with a 
Chasseur of Infantry, a feverish convalescent, 
but with sound limbs. This Zouave, instead of 
wandering moodily about like the discontented 
foot-soldier, not knowing what to do with himself, 
and roving out of his latitude in search of a 
position on the gangway, has cajoled a Mathurin 
of the crew, who, in his character of compatriot, 
will teach him the art of stowing himself away, 
in the open air, rather more comfortably than 
the generality of the martyrs. 

" Countryman," says the Zouave, " we should 
have a billet of quarters !" 



16 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" The fact is, it is a little hard, to have to keep 
watch aloft for ten days and nights," replied the 
sailor, in apparent reflection, scratching his cheek, 
which the enormous quid of tobacco he was 
chewing deliciously, had converted into a sort 
of dome, " It really is very hard." 

" But while on duty, countryman, is not your 
berth vacant ?" insinuated the soldier. 

" Oh no ! there is no danger of cobwebs 
forming there. Have I not my comrade of the 
larboard, who watches while I sleep, and sleeps 
while I watch?" 

" Had I the use of my two hands," answered 
the Zouave, " I would descend into the hold and 
the Chasseur after me, for we cannot separate." 

" The infected atmosphere below would scarcely 
agree with the young man," rejoined the sailor 
sententiously. 

" Then, compatriot, if this mule-box were for 
hire, we might instal ourselves there." 

And the Zouave pointed out to the sailor one 
of those boxes designed for transporting horses 
and mules, hitched to the gunwale, and opposite 
to the engine chimney, filled with sails and 
ropes. 

Our Zouave, as we shall hereafter shew, had 
already transformed one of these boxes into a bed- 
chamber, during a passage from Kameish to 
Constantinople. His present embarrassment 



EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 17 

arises from the fact that this one being packed 
with cordage and tarpauling, permission from 
the Boatswain must be obtained to clear the 
locality ; this he hoped to procure, through the 
mediation of his pretended fellow countryman, 
the sailor. 

"Compatriot, if you would only whisper a 
word or two into the mate's trumpet !" 

The compatriot at first turned a deaf ear. The 
sailor is by nature, little complaisant, especially 
at sea, or when required to go out of his way an 
oar's length to perform a service. He chackles 
inwardly over the petty annoyances of the land 
lubber, and is not sparing of his scoffs at the 
piteous countenance of the warrior, floored by 
sea-sickness. One of his greatest delights is to 
sprinkle with foul water, in the morning, the 
late sleeper, not risen when the deck-washing 
commences. Nor does he ever fail of an infal- 
lible remedy, as he says, against the nausea of 
sea-sickness — "Eat a brick and drink a glass 
of salt water." And how he laughs at the 
luckless piou-piouj (soldier) that misses the 
step when the waves begin to roll. 

" Attention!" he cries out, just as there comes 
a very heavy lurch, "attention! and left foot 
foremost." 

And the piou-jpiou, forgetting the rule, sets out 
with both feet forward. 



18 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" Attention ! little finger on the seam of the 
trowsers, and head fixed fifteen paces in a direct 
line !" 

And the troubadour, extending his arm. to 
grope for support in space, clasps vacancy, loses 
his balance, falls and knocks his head against the 
hatchway. 

Then, the sailor, shouting with laughter, 
raises, with feigned commiseration, the unfor- 
tunate warrior, who, with wavering gait, steers 
anew, alongside the waistcloth. Kone would 
now recognize, under the blanket that envelops 
him like a calabash, the same hero who stormed 
the enemy's ambuscade. 

But at the present time, the weather is fine, 
the sea unrippled, the breeze quiet, and the 
packet runs smoothly as a rail-road car. A 
sailor could not now have enjoyed fine sporty 
in shaving sl jackal from the Crimea. 

"Come, countryman," resumed the Zouave, 
"will you suffer us to sleep out of doors?" 

At this moment, the mate passed by, and the 
sailor seizing the opportunity, exclaimed, 

" Father Mery, here are two soldiers, who saw 
your son at Sebastapol." 

With these words, he winked and gave his 
tobacco a twist in the cheek, as a hint to the 
Zouave not to contradict him, and to attack 
Mery on his weak side — paternal love. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 19 

"All, yes, I have seen him," answered the 
Zouave, and your son, Monsieur, has been, and 
continues to be a brave soldier. He and I have 
eaten several Kussians together, and he had a 
famous appetite. On my leaving camp, he said 
to me, 'Trumpeter, if you ever encounter Pere 
Mery, my father, tell him his son is brave.' He 
would have made me the bearer of a letter to 
you, but just as he had taken pen in hand, 
General Canrobert sent him in search of some- 
thiug for dinner. Obedience to commanders 
supersedes filial duty." 

While the Zouave was speaking, the honest 
man's face shone with gratified pride ; he choked, 
turned all colors with emotion, and murmured 
some unintelligible words. 

'•And, now, if he should ask me the number of 
his son's regiment !" thought the Zouave. But 
not so fastidious was Father Mery; the moment 
he heard him speak of knowing his son, he 
became a friend. 

"Is he not a handsome boy?" he inquired 
proudly. 

"Ah, you may well say that; so handsome, 
that the Princess Grortschakoff, wife of the 
Eussian Commander in Chief, being, one day on 
the Malakoff Tower, descrying him mounting 
guard at the trenches, exclaimed, 'Parbleu! 
what a splendid man !' and offered, one hundred 



20 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

roubles sterling reward, to any one tliat would 
capture him alive." 

Father Merj at this hyperbolical tirade, which 
went beyond the mark, shut one eye, as if to 
answer the Zouave, " You are a humbug," and 
was about to turn on his heel, when the sailor 
took up the discourse. 

" The fact is," said he, " there is not in the 
whole of the Second Zouaves' regiment generally, 
and particularly in the third section, a person of 
finer proportions and more elegant form than 
young Mery." 

The Zouave was saved; he knew now to 
which army the mate's son belonged, accord- 
ingly, resuming a serious tone, he added: 

"Pardon me, mate; it was a mere joke, what 
I related of Princess Gortschakoff; but since 
your son is a Zouave as well as myself, give me, 
for his sake, permission to occupy this lodgment 
during the voyage ;" and he pointed to the box, 
encumbered with sails and rigging. 

Pere Mery rubbed his chin, hesitated a long 
time, having still a grudge about the princess 
and the Malakoff. But, after a while, he re- 
laxed, reflecting that perhaps his son might have 
been already killed, or wounded, like the 
Zouave that asked him for a shelter, and cried 
out, turning away, and in the tone of a benevo- 
lent executioner — 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 21 

"Well, lodge in it, then, as it was constructed 
for beasts." 

A quarter of an hour after, thanks to a mea- 
sure of grog furnished by the steward for the 
comfort of the chasseur, the sailor aided the one- 
armed and the invalid to transform the aforesaid 
box into an apartment. 

But I have not yet narrated how that box 
came into our possession, nor described its con- 
struction. 

When our packets leave Marseilles for Ka- 
miesh, they seldom fail to bring horses and 
mules belonging to officers who are passengers. 
The animals are not lodged in the mid-deck, as 
on ships specially adapted to transporting cav- 
alry ; they remain on the quarter-deck, enclosed 
separately, in a moveable stall, in a hox. This 
box is neither wide enough for the animal to lie 
down, nor long enough to permit him to use his 
hoofs ; the partitions are higher than he, except 
the one in front, which slopes, so as to enable 
him to project his neck and head towards the 
manger. 

The animal thus enclosed, is exempted from 
tbe punishment of the surcingle, which keeps 
him suspended, as it were, fastened by two iron 
rings, to the ceiling of the middle deck. This 
method on ships, a part of whose middle deck is 
converted into a stable, is necessary to prevent 



22 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

falls of tlie animals being transported for the 
troops, to whicli the pitching and rolling renders 
them liable. Boxes there would occupy too 
much room. 

"Well, we were conveying these boxes to Mar- 
seilles, but empty ; and merely retained on deck 
such as could not be taken to pieces and piled 
away in a corner of the hold. 

But had there been three or four, the foot- 
soldier that first arrived would pass them un- 
heeded ; but, let a sailor descry any tenantless, 
and he soon gets possession of the best as his 
domicile. Thus did the Zouave, and the apart- 
ment is furnished. They occupy it jointly ; two 
coverlets, folded in four, form the mattress, on 
which, side by side, or back to back, sleep the 
two associates. The box is wide enough, and 
even were it larger, it would not insure increase 
of comfort, from the chance of being disturbed 
by the lurches — for mutual support is gained by 
circumscribed limits; or, in maritime parlance, 
one serves as wedge to the other, and_this fra- 
ternal stowing is propitious to sleep. 

Azor, old Azor acts as pillow to the Zouave 5 
a mariner has his sail-duck bag, resembling in 
shape a cavalry bugle. 

It is very rarely that a double amount of 
blankets, over and above the allotment, can be 
filched ; but the sailor stole two additional ones, 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 23 

to be stretched around the comers of the box, 
to guard the sleepers from the night air ; the 
Zouave contenting himself with only one extra, 
unrolling his turban and converting it into an 
alcove curtain. Such were the night arrange- 
ments. 

By day, the whole stock was packed neatly 
into two parts, forming a divan at each ex- 
tremity of the saloon. There they talked, and 
smoked, tdte-^-tdte, while visitors leaned outside 
to listen. 

I myself, too, notwithstanding the decorum 
imposed on me by the hierarchy on board, was 
one of the most zealous auditors of these re- 
unions, wherein our Zouave was generally chief 
speaker. 

This Zouave, as before observed, wounded at 
the Crimea, was just from the hospital of Pera. 
He interested me extremely ; his face was fa- 
miliar. I had already seen him somewhere, not 
as citizen or lounger, but as a soldier in active 
service. Was it in Africa, at Philippeville, Stora, 
at Algiers or Oran ? Was it in the East, at Gal- 
lipoli, Yarna, or Kamiesh ? This I could not at 
first recall; but on interrogating him about' his 
campaigns and wounds, my memory returned. 

At Yarna, July, 1854, a battalion of Zouaves, 
composing part of a division sent to Dobrustcha, 
passed rapidly by me, as I was strolling along 



24 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the rural lanes of this capital of Bulgaria, and 
vanished amid the dust of the road of Kustendji. 
I ensconsed myself beside a wall, to let this 
human torrent roll by, and already, as my eye 
still sought them, they were out of sight, while 
the ringing of their clarions reverberated, lively 
and spirit-stirring. 

In witnessing a military defile, attention is or- 
dinarily directed to the captain and officers in 
command ; to the tallest, shortest, or to the one 
having the most stripes in the troop ; to the strag- 
glers, sutler, surgeon, major ; to all, in fine, that 
by their rank, seat in the saddle, pace, etc., 
stand out in relief from the common mass. 

This battalion of seven or eight hundred 
Zouaves, formed so complete and perfect a 
whole, as to enforce my admiration of them as a 
corps, but yet remarking, more particularly, one 
of the trumpeters. 

And wherefore did I distinguish him from his 
associates ? I cannot tell ; it was simply obey- 
ing a mysterious impulsion. It frequently hap- 
pens that we photograph in our memory, with- 
out any special desire, the physiognomy of a 
stranger whom we are destined to behold in 
after times. 

And so, in efiect, was I to see again the 
Zouave Trumpeter,- for it is he whom I recall on 



EEC0LLECTI0X3 OF A ZOUAYE. 25 

board the Nil^ talking about bombardments, am- 
buscades, and trenches. 

He is worthy of being listened to. When in 
the vein, he can draw around him a circle of 
attentive auditors. Sailors, soldiers, and civil- 
ians, hang upon his words, ij too, hang breathless ^ 
and am endeavouring to remember certain epi- 
sodes of that great epopee, as he himself recounts 
them. 

The trooper, who is actor in a battle or com- 
bat, cannot see the whole of it; but certain de- 
tails are in his sphere, which he loves to revive, 
and with howsoever little natural gift as a nar- 
rator, constructs a petty drama out of each, 
wherein he plays the principal part. 

Events of war, like all others in life, have 
never had, and never will have two historians 
identically veracious. The same fact becomes 
modified, recounted by different tongues, and 
the colouring may vary infinitely. So also with 
history and chronicle. The one, strictly official, 
without being always true, the other, independ- 
ent, capricious, sometimes improbable, and yet 
frequently ser^-ing as an envelope to truth. 

I love well the free play of the last. Sup- 
pose it propagate error — popular opinion will 
promptly correct it; or, is it consecrated to 
truth — that truth runs quickly through the 
world, and infiltrates the masses. 



26 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

The war-tales, or rather tlie camp adventures^ 
recounted to us by tlie Zouave Trumpeter, appear 
so personal, at first glance, that we migtit be 
tempted to revoke them, in doubt of their ve- 
racity; and yet they have the air of truth, 
although to certain incredulous listeners, want- 
ing the stamp. 

I have scrutinized them, by seeking informa- 
tion from the numerous passengers, officers, and 
soldiers whom I have, at various times, attended 
on their return from the East, and by reading 
official documents published in the Moniteur; 
and I declare that there is not a fact or detail, 
in contradiction with these. 

Thus, then, until after having deposited at the 
Dardanelles, the firman, the leaf, three metres in 
extent, on which is traced in two lines of capital 
letters, the Sultan's permission to quit his empire, 
the Nil descends the Hellespont, to provision at 
Smyrna ; — while consuming the distance from 
Smyrna to Syra, from Syra to Malta, and from 
Malta to Marseilles, taking in at each port coal 
for the furnaces and food for our bodies, let us, 
prisoners on shipboard, banish, if we can, the 
ennui of long days at sea, by listening to the 
gossip of the brave soldiers, returning from the 
heights of Chersonesus. 

The saloon of my trumpeter and foot-soldier, 
for which I shall provoke your curiosity, was 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 27 

opposite the engine chimney ; so that, seated on 
the mainhatch, I could listen to the conversa- 
tions, without mingling too closely with the 
curious groups gathered around the box. 

This^ apartment resembled a historic pulpit, 
having the Zouave as titular incumbent. 

There arose, very often, lively discussions 
upon certain obscure points of high military 
tactics; and if the solutions given were not 
always conformed to the principles of the most 
celebrated tacticians and warriors, they were, at 
least, not deficient in picturesque expression and 
rude good sense. There, too, I became acquainted 
with certain minute details of the Eastern war ; 
details forgotten, perhaps, in the of&cial ac- 
counts. 

This morning, our tasseled politicians discussed 
the chances of the siege of Sebastopol ; it was at 
breakfast, and the champions of one idea, or 
plan, perfectly feasible according to their opinion, 
brought out a rich flow of argument, which the 
adversaries immediately refuted, by objections 
not less rich ; then, the repast ended, each one 
could decide for himself in the calmness of di- 
gestion. 

This evening, our saloon politicians also 
broached a polemic on the great question at 
issue ; but as they prefer material, brutal fact, to 
the most sublime theoretical conclusions, the 



28 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

voice is for him who supports his argument by 
actual precedent. 

Thus, our Zouave pretended that the first 
cannon-shot fired on the soil of Crimea, was 
after the debarkation of the Allied armies at 
Old Fort. 

" The fleet," exclaimed he, " gave Menchikoff a 
broadside as we advanced en losange along the 
shore. I was there among the foremost, and 
with my comrade, Frichter, sounded the charge, 
and with no elaborate quick-step of the instant. 
It was as if the cannons of the Bayard^ Yille de 
Paris^ Valmy, &c., kept time to the tune of our 
clarions. Ah I by my faith, it was a noble de- 
barkation ! And how they have burned powder 
since the first cartouche met the touch-hole !" 

" Stop a minute," eagerly interposed a quarter- 
master of the steam-frigate Descartes^ a tall, mus- 
cular, jovial fellow, with an extra cross on his 
medal, and minus an arm to the sum total of his 
limbs. " Stop a minute ! By your leave, com- 
rade, you make a blunder !" 

" Eh ! and how so, I pray you ? Did we not 
attack the Czar the 14th of September ?" 

" Ay, ay, you soldiers of cavalry and infantry, 
whom the fleet-barges landed on that day ; but, 
we of the marines had tried the pulse of Sebas- 
topol, on the eleventh of the preceding June." 



EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 29 

"This is a history of wliicli I was wholly 
ignorant." 

" It is literally true, as truth itself." 
" Doubtless, you report for the Moniteur, mate." 
"And if so, the Moniteur would lose nothing by 
sometimes deigning to consult us." 

"I had always believed that the first cannon- 
shot dated from the 14th of September," rejoined 
the Zouave. 

" You mistake. The first cannon-ball in these 
latitudes was fired June 11th, 1854. I repeat 
and maintain it; for it was I, then master of 
ordnance on the Descartes, who pointed the first 

shot." 

"And since then, he has been firing small 
shot," exclaimed a Zejohyr, a soldier of the Afri- 
can battalions. 

" And will despatch many more yet," added a 
corporal belonging to a foreign legion. 

" Chut ! this is not a club," says the Zouave — 
president — "Chasseur, as you have both hands 
uncrippled, indite these words on the walls of 
our kiosk — 

' It is forUdden TO TALK POLITICS HERE.'" 

" But though we say nothing^ we need not thinh 
the less,''^ answered a sagacious bayonet. 

"Agreed; nor does it forbid you, master, to 
relate how you fired this first cannon-shot." 

"It was thus," resumed the quarter-master. 



80 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

"Two montlis after the bombardment of 
Odessa" 

" Ah ! the bombardment of Odessa !" ex- 
claimed a sailor, listening. " What a pity not 
to have continued that grand orchestra I" 

" What a wedding-feast was lost there !" said 
another; "we should have been in the city the 
next morning." 

" Well said !" rejoined the quarter-master ; 
" and the St. Petersburg of the Black Sea would 
have been in flames. But, for the sake of hu- 
manity, we were ordered to close our port-holes. 
Ah, the cause suffers, when, the work being all 
cut and dried, humanity becomes Captain of 
ordnance I" 

A pause now ensued in the caucus, as if 
each reflected a little on the consequences 
of taking Odessa at that juncture. In a few 
minutes, the quarter-master resumes : — 

"Imagine us now at Odessa, we of the ma- 
rines saying to the foot regiments : ' Take a 
little refreshment, comrades; eat a biscuit, and 
follow, Messieurs, your sappers on the grand 
route to Perekop ; and if, by chance, the Kus- 
sians demand your papers, tell them the French 
do not travel with a passport but with a pass- 

" Meanwhile, the fleet coasts the shore, to cast 
anchor in the Gulf of Chersonesus, and strike a 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 31 

blow for you at forcing that door of tlie Crimea, 
instead of leaving you to invest it." 

" You are right, master, you are right." 

" True, but we will not question that now. It 
was the plan then — at this time it would avail 
nothing, and I pass from it to my first cannon- 
shot. 

"June 11th, on Sunday evening, at five o'clock, 
the Fury^ the Terrible^ and the Descartes^ ap- 
proached the mouth of the Bay of Sebastopol, 
and there counted twelve ships of the line, four 
sailing, 'and four steam-frigates. In a previous 
reconnoissance, there were five steamboats — 
where were the three missing steamers? Had 
not the Anglo-French cruiser of the Gulf of 
Perekop, and of the Circassian and Asiatic 
shores, obstructed their departure ?" 

" It appears not," said a sailor. 

" The cruisers of that day did not keep their 
eyes open as they do now. At that epoch, you 
might have made a passage in broad daylight, 
from the Bosphorus to Yarna, without perceiv- 
ing a single pennon of a ship of war, English 
or French." 

Nothing more incontrovertible, thought I, who 
relate these conversations. In the months of 
July and August, I made frequent voyages from 
Constantinople to Yarna and back, and never did I 
encounter in that sea, a solitary flag of the allied 



32 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

armies. We carried to Varna a million of specie 
every ^ve days, to pay the troops ; and tlie cele- 
brated Russian steamer, Yladimir^ would liave 
gained a fine prize in encountering us. 

The quarter-master resumes his discourse. 

" While the Fury^ Terrihle and Descartes were 
performing their mission of reconnoitering, three 
ships of the line and six steamers of the Russians, 
who had two frigates in ambush west of the 
Quarantine, as well as other vessels concealed in 
the creeks of Cape Chersonesus, manoeuvred so 
as to hem us in and cut off our retreat; but Cap- 
tains Lovering and Arican rendered useless the 
presence of the sailing vessels by turning obli- 
quely south-westward, then formed into line of 
battle, the Descartes in the centre, to await the 
five Russian steamers bearing down iipon us. 
Th3 Yladimir, their swiftest boat, fired us a shot 
at a considerable distance, to which we replied 
by hoisting our colors. I pointed the first cannon 
on board the Descartes. The fire was not con- 
tinued, the distance was too great. But the 
Allies retired slowly, to show the Russians that 
we were ready for the combat. The Russians 
were not less eager for the attack. They came 
on, and the cannonade recommenced as soon as 
the balls could have full sweep ; we then tacked 
about, and enthusiastically hurrahing, bore down 
upon the enemy, when, the cowards ! they took 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 33 

to fliglit and we gave tliem a vain cbase, till 
under the very guns of Sebastopol. The pur- 
suit ceased with day-light, after the Eussians had 
vanished behind the fortifications of the harbor. 
Such, comrades, was the commencement of the 
cannonades that, since then, have re-echoed on 
the heights of Chersonesus. It is not, therefore, 
at Old Fort that they first sounded — you should 
furthermore be told, that the Eussians, on that 
day, intended to board our ships, for their decks 
were covered with soldiers." 

"Ah, had they dared," cried many auditors 
simultaneously, " we should not now possibly be 
before Sebastopol." 

Did the quarter-master, who had recounted 
this prologue of the Crimean campaign speak 
truth ? There was no one present this evening, 
to contradict him, and since then, in reviewing 
the official accounts, I have found nothing to 
invalidate his assertions. 

I have had in my hands, the letter of an Eng- 
lish officer, relating a visit of the Allied Ad- 
mirals to the landing of Sebastopol — I will cite 
some portions : — 

" Baltchich^ July 20. 

"We were returning from a reconnoitering 
expedition to Sebastopol with thirteen ships, 
commanded by Admirals Bruat and Dundas. 



34: KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

THe Fury^ Terrible and Descartes were sent in 
advance. Suddenly was seen in port prepara- 
tion for a sortie; sails spread, and columns of 
smoke ; but the sentry, just as the Eussians were 
about to issue forth, gave signals of the size of 
the fleet, and instantly, fires were extinguished 
and sails furled. Our three steamers, sent to re- 
connoitre the north side, approached so near, 
that Fort Constantine fired upon them. The 
rigging of the Terrible was damaged, and a ball 
traversed the hull of the Fury^ partially ravaging 
the sailors' store-room, but without wounding 
any one. The ships then retreated. The forti- 
fications of Sebastopol, even augmented since I 
last saw them, are formidable. 

" We passed the night in the broad sea, and in 
the morning, the Fury awoke the Eussians with 
a cannon-shot. As it was not yet day -light, we 
could enjoy a magnificent spectacle. In an 
instant, every battery was blazing • forth, — it 
might have been supposed the illuminations of a 
national fete." 

During another voyage of the Nil^ I heard a 
sailor, belonging to the Eoland, relate the fol- 
lowing : — 

" On the 22d of September the Roland^ passing 
before Sebastopol, saw in port, one close in rear 
of the other, five ships and two frigates, lying at 
anchor. The next morninor our allied fleet 



BECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 35 

cleared from Cape Lou Koul, and approacTied 
Sebastopol, when a cannon shot resounded from 
tlie harbor ; then, we discerned from our ship, 
the Eussian vessels successively disappear in 
the water." 

Whether the official reports have mentioned 
this courtesy of the Eussians, awaiting the pas- 
sage of our fleet to sacrifice their vessels in full 
view of us, I know not. 

I have also heard it said, that but for the 
obstruction formed by these sunken vessels, the 
Anglo-French fleet would have forced the pass 
after the first regular bombardment in the action 
of the 17th and 18th of October ; the vessels 
must then have stranded in port, and the crews 
been landed in complete disorder, and put in 
this disarray face to face with the besieged. 

Probably, however, they would not have lost 
more men than they have since. 

This evening, at dinner, a very ardent discus- 
sion arose between a Chief of Battalion and a 
frigate-Captain, on the possibility of uniting the 
naval and land forces after the mouth of the 
harbor had been forced ; the Captain was in the 
affirmative, the other espoused the negative 

side. 

The events nov;- passing, tend to support the 
argument of the marine ofiicer ; the remaining 
vessels of the Eussians harass our wharf-laborers 



36 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

exceedingly, and impair tlie new works erected 
before Malakoff — for a mucli stronger reason, 
tlieir fire would cause incalculable ravages, if 
directed to tbe defences of the town — a thing 
which we might do to advantage could we man 
these ships and bring their broadsides to bear in 
their place. Sebastopol would not hold out a 
quarter of an hour. 

It was during this same assault of October 
18th, that our flag-ship, the three-decker, Yille 
de Paris, boldly cast anchor at eight cable- 
lengths from the guns of Sebastopol. It received 
fifty bullets in the side, three below the water- 
line and one hundred others in the rigging, 
main-mast, mizen-mast and foresail, which was 
shivered to atoms ; three red-hot balls set the 
ship on fire, and a shower of bombs destroyed 
the poop ; at twenty-five minutes to two, a bomb- 
shell falls on the poop, burst in the frigate-Cap- 
tain's cabin, and obliges him to leap the deck, 
kills Lieutenant Sommeleir and wounds several 
other of&cers. Admiral 'Hamelin miraculously 
escapes death. A naval attack in concert with 
one by land at this juncture, would have 
delivered us Sebastopol, if the channel to the 
port had not been obstructed by the vessels 
sunk across it. 

The allied Admirals were resolved to sacrifice 
as many sailing vessels as necessary to occupy 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 87 

batteries instead. WMle these vessels, fore- 
stalling the enemies' balls, should be heroically 
sinking, the wheels and paddles would force the 
passage under full press of steam. This project 
of passing between Fort Alexander and Con- 
stantine , had been conceived in the commence- 
ment of, and even before the seige ; and I find it 
recorded as having been actually accomplished, 
in numberless documents, published in connection 
with the pretended capture of Sebastopol after 
the battle of Alma. 

Lord Westmoreland, says the Vienna Journal, 
received a letter, in which his son, an ofiicer in 
the Crimea, announces to him that Sebastopol 
was taken, and that Admiral Hamelin was the 
first to penetrate with his vessel, the Ville de 
Paris, into the port, by breaking the dyke formed 
by the hulks of the Kussian vessels. 

We should be no longer astonished at the suc- 
cess of that grand European mystification occur- 
ring at this time ; the most incredulous could 
not refuse belief in a fact so clearly specified. 
Every one knows that a Tartar, dispatched from 
Yarna to Omer Pacha, then holding his head- 
quarters at Schoumla, spread over the continent 
that chimerical news of the capture of Sebas- 
topol ; but every one does not know that it was 
a mistake, and an honest one — the fault of a 
hoarse speaking-trumpet, an erreur d'acoustique^ 
which originated that immortal hoax. 



88 KECOLLECTION-S OF A ZOUAVE. 

The Pharamond^ an Imperial steam mail- 
packet, was in the postal service at this epoch, 
between Constantinople and Yarna; one after- 
noon, in crossing the Bay of Yarna and on the 
point of getting into port, the boat is hailed by 
another steamer, direct from Enpatoria, going 
with all speed to Constantinople to announce the 
victory of Alma. The Commander of this boat, 
giving precedence to the tafiarel of the Phara- 
mond^ cries out through the hraillard (speaking 
trumpet) that the Eussians have been beaten at 
Alma, and that the Allies are about to enter Sebas- 
topol. The Commander of the Pharamond under- 
stood, have entered Sehastopol — announces the 
triumph to the Governor of Yarna, who dis- 
patches his Tartar. 

The next morning the Pharamond, again in 
the Bosphorus, and passing just as the artillery 
of Thopana is thundering in honor of the victors 
of Alma, naturally supposes they are celebrating 
the news of the fall of Sebastopol borne there 
by the steamer encountered in the Black Sea, 
and in turn, publishes the tidings, which is 
enthusiastically received, without questioning 
how, or by whom it was transmitted. Foreign 
Ambassadors instantly dispatched couriers to 
their governments, and the rumor of the fall of 
the Eussian fortress, reaching Europe at two 
different points, could not be regarded other than 
perfectly authentic. 



BECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 39 



CHAPTER 11. 

PRODIGY OF RESECTION — AMBUSCADE — CHARGE — BALL IN THE 
SHOULDER — HOSPITAL — KAMIESH. 

"How were you deprived of your arm?" I 
inquired of our Zouave trumpeter, one evening 
that lie appeared more than usually, even, in the 

vein. 

"A cylindro-conical ball demolished my left 

pinion," replied he. 

"And the wound is doubtless healed, since 
you have not applied to me to dress it?" 

" Yes, major, the wound, thank God, is closed ; 
my associate and comrade, the chasseur, whom 
you see there pallid as a defunct, binds the 
stump of my shoulder every morning with 
several folds of bandages, and that is sufficient. 
You have already so much work aboard, that I 
did not dare augment the number of your 
patients." 

In replying thus to me, the purely French 
physiognomy of this tall, muscular young man 
was illumined with a frank smile. He was 
handsome, with his bare, robust neck, blonde 
hair, cut close, according to the ordinance, and 
triturated from contact with the woolen cechia. 



40 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAYE. 

The sun wliicli only burns and tans pale com- 
plexions, and clothes with a uniform, ruddy hue 
those that are fair and rosy, had coloured his 
face to the middle of the forehead — everything 
about him indicated strength and energy. 

"A wound in the shoulder is always very 
dangerous," he added, " especially if it proceed 
from a rifle. It is great luck to escape the dis- 
jointing of the arm. The surgeon-major of Pera 
was satisfied with clipping mine a little. Behold 
it—" 

And he rolled up the sleeve, and stripped off 
the bandages, to show us the stump of his shoul- 
der, which was shrunk,- and somewhat mangled, 
and wrinkled by a long cicatrice on the outside, 
descending half-way the arm, which though still 
moveable, yet could no longer perform the 
nervous actions of past times. The lower part 
of the arm and the hand were free ; he was only 
partially deprived of the use of this limb. 

A ball penetrating the shoulder, crushing the 
head-bone of the arm, and tearing away the en- 
velopes of articulation, provokes fatal accidents, 
and death is often inevitable, either if leaving 
the wound alone, or executing one of the most 
dreadful operations in surgery — the disarticula. 
tion of the limb. 

Here, then, before my eyes, was a living proof, 
irrefragable evidence of the possibilit3^ of sue- 



KEC0LLECTI0N3 OF A ZOUAVE. 41 

cessfully avoiding these two extremes; and in 
my opinion, tlie surgeon of Pera had evinced 
more than skill — he had evinced genius, in 
removing only the injured part of the bone we 
call the humerus (the head of it crushed by a 
ball) so as to preserve the limb. 

While I was admiring, en amateur^ this chef- 
d'oeuvre of resection, the Zouave recounted how, 
in attacking a Eussian ambuscade, he had fallen 
in sounding the charge. 

"The — of July, at half-past nine in the 
evening," said he, " one hundred and fifty 
Zouaves, of the Sixth and Seventh companies 

of Eegiment, received orders to beat up a 

Eussian ambuscade, situated four hundred metres 
in front of the first French parallel. A captain 
and lieutenant commanded, and two trumpeters 
were to sound the onset ; I was one, and my com- 
rade Fritcher, the other. AYe set off, as usual, 
joyous and eager, and leaving the menage in 
camp ; that is, sack and turban, which are only 
fit for travel, going to mass, or a review; we 
each took under our arm, m^adame our spouse^ 
our good rifle. 

"General Bosquet, who was to support with 
several brigades the assaults of that night, had, 
passing along our ranks, recommended us to 
march upon the Eussians, in profound silence at 
first, then, on arriving near them, to rush upon 

4 



42 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the ambiish witli yells and cries, making a din 
equal to a hundred thousand men. Xext, address- 
ing himself to me and my comrade Fritcher, he 
said — 

" * Trumpeters, sound the polka, a gavot, pas- 
torrelle, a waltz, a quaver — whatever you like — 
but — but, sound not the retreat !' 

" ' Enoug^h, sreneraL' 

" And he departed, satisfied ; for he knew us 
well, my comrade, Fritcher, and me ; more than 
once, in Africa, we had already sounded his 
battle-char sre. 

" At the appointed hour, a Jiirondelle de feu^ 
(swallow-fire) as the Turks call our rockets, gave 
the signal of march, and we emerged from the 
line; it was night, dark as the bottom of a 
cavern, and, as ordered, we kept profound 
silence. If the Eussians did not hear us coming, 
they could still less count us. A handful of 
men, in darkness, is large as a battalion, a battal- 
ion as a resdment, and a resriment as a brio^ade. 

" "When we had traversed, with step of a wolf, 
two-thirds of the distance from the ambuscade, 
our captain commanded a halt, and we divided 
into two sections ; one, conducted by him, was to 
attack the left, the other, under the heutenant, 
the right. 

"Nothing was yet visible or moving on the 
Russian side; and we could not have believed 



EECOLLECnOXS OF A ZOUATE. 43 

ourselves in the vicinity of an enemy's post, had 
not the scouts of the preceding night scented 
them out, and discovered their position during 
the day. 

" The jacJcah were now about to rush upon the 
ambuscade, yelling like demons, and I already 
had my lips to the mouth of my clarion, ready 
to bring out a quick-step composed by me and 
mv comrade, Fritcher, when suddenly, an infer- 
nal volley broke from the Kussian side on the 
ri<3^ht, only two Daces from us : the balls whistled 
in our ears, and the gleam of their carabines 
lif'hted a Ions: line of the enemv's skirmishers. 

"It was not now an afl^ir for howling; we 
must change our plan of attack, and return the 
fire of our Caucasus skirmishers, the captain's 
troop to commence, while the lieutenant should 
make a long circuit, and afterwards wheel round 
to the assault. 

*'The captain then commanded me to sound 
the first charge. 

'* ' Forward, and disperse yourselves V 
"I obeved, and our men scattered, and am- 
bushed, according to the inequalities of the 
ground ; and the enemy, now approaching, then 
recoiling, sowed their balls in vacancy, for if we 
could perceive them by the light of their mus- 
kets, they could not discover us, as we had not 
vet discharsred a sinirle shot. 



44 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" But the conflict began, lively and murderous, 
as soon as I had sounded the second time. 

" ' To the assault ! fire I' 

" Then, for a quarter of an hour, we rendered 
the Muscovites ball for ball ; ours, unlike theirs, 
were not lost in darkness ; on the contrary, I 
could distinguish in the fusillade, men in large 
white capotes falling every instant, as if by a 
thunderbolt, having received a shot in the 
shoulder. 

" It was because our marksmen, cunning and 
skilful, saw the foe as plainly as in daylight; 
they were not embarrassed by the darkness, nor 
fired a cartridge at random, but with their hand 
on the trigger, and eye taking aim, they fired 
instantaneously on the Caucasian, the flash of 
whose rifle betrayed his position. Thus it 
was that I saw these white phantoms falling 
cheek by jowl. All went then, thus far, well, 
and we were gaining, by inches, the ground lost 
by the Eussians in leaving their ambush, when a 
sergeant of the lieutenant's company, at a short 
distance on the right, arrived at full speed and 
said a few words to our captain. 

" ' To the right about, to the aid of the 

"Seventh 1' he exclaimed, ' and sound the gym- 

nastique !' And I rang out the gymnastique, 

and our division, forming into a column, rallied 

the Seventh, which was giving way. Soon 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 45 

after, to tlie re-echo of tlie charge, sounded bj 
me and mj comrade, Fritcher, the invincible 
Jackals fell like a tornado upon the enemy's 
ambuscade and swept it. 

" There were but two bayonet points that did 
not slash Eussian flesh then — mine and that of 
my comrade, Fritcher ; we could not do every- 
thing at once, for if it requires only one hand to 
hold a trumpet, two are necessary to carry a rifle. 
The Eussians put to flight, we were forthwith 
commencing busily to demolish, raze and level 
the ambuscade, to regain our parallel as quickly 
as possible, when a huge, dark mass appeared, 
descending the hill from the town. It advanced 
quick and fast, growing larger, and coming on 
with a hollow, continuous sound, like the tramp 
of a multitude passing in silence over cavernous 
ground. 

" Evidently the beseiged were making a grand 
sortie, and were then passing over a mine. What 
was to be done ? Should we attempt to defend 
the post we had just so valiantly carried ? But 
they numbered five, six, perhaps ten thousand, 
and we scarcely one hundred and fifty ! 

" I afterwards knew that the Eussian column 
was composed of twelve thousand men. We 
were then forced to evacuate the position and 
fall back towards the battalion remaining in the 
trenches, and we executed that manoeuvre, but 



46 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

without taking fliglit or losing ground, step by 
step, and generally by recoiling and firing, as at 
target, upon that living wall, steadily advancing. 
We had taken care not to sound the retreat. 
Did not General Bosquet say to me and my com- 
rade, Eritcher, ' Sound a quaver, anything that 
you choose — except the retreat !' 

" The battalion left in the trenches during our 
attack of the ambuscade, discerning the cause of 
this movement on our side, received us by 
promptly setting off, and crossed the parallel, 
followed by another infantry battalion, then, 
another still, then a French, and lastly, an English 
brigade. 

" A warm conflict was now in prospect. 

" In two or three bounds we were in a few 
metres of the Eussians, who still continued to 
advance. The shock of the encounter is perilous, 
and the companies Sixth and Seventh, who keep 
their stand at the head of the column, were to fall 
upon them with the bayonet, as soon as I should 
sound the charge with my comrade, Fritcher. 
Arm to arm, and lips on the mouth-piece, we wait 
the order to sound, drawing a long breath pre- 
paratory. 

- " At length the order is given, I sound, my 
comrade Fritcher continues, and I am about to 
reverberate, when suddenly I receive a violent 
stroke in the left shoulder, which makes me 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 47 

piroutte and levels me to tlie earth. — It must be 
a ball, from tbe sharp, deep pain it produces I 

"The companies pass on, the battalions, the 
brigade ; I lie there on the ground for a moment, 
as if stunned and senseless, but quickly arise, 
furious and no longer feeling any pain from my 
wound ; I listen : — amid the din of the fusillade, 
through the yells and clamor of the combat, I 
recognize the trumpet-ring of my comrade, 
Fritcher, and my first impulse is to answer him, 
by sounding a new charge to the rear. But no 
charge could I sound. In my fall, the mouth of 
the clarion is filled with sand, which I try to 
remove with my primer. No primer ! I had 
forgotten it in my menage in camp. I then seek 
my knife. No knife ! I had lost it. Oh, com- 
rades, comrades, I exclaimed to the brigades, still 
defiling near me, a knife or primer to clean out 
my trumpet ! 

"But they all pass swiftly by, and without 
hearkening, impatient to be in the thick of the 
fight. The idea of sounding a charge continues 
to torment me, and like a fool, I suck the dirt 
that obstructs the mouth of my clarion. But, 
on seeing myself alone, perfectly deserted, at 
midnight, reflection arises, and I calculate that 
it would be very foolish to sound in this situa- 
tion, when all our people are engaged in the 
affray ; it would bring upon me the rifles of the 



48 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

Eussian scouts, straggling in the neigliborliood, 
and gain me only an inglorious death. 

" The next instant, I feel something, first warm, 
then cold, running down my breast — I slipped 
my hand under my vest and drew it forth drip- 
ping ; the obscurity prevented my seeing what it 
was, but from the odor, I recognized blood ; the 
smell produced faintness, and my strength failing 
I fell to the earth. 

" ' Here, comrades !' I cried with voice scarcely 
audible, ' this way, Zouaves !' 

" But there was now no one near to hear my 
cry ; the brigades are more and more distant, re- 
pulsing the Eussian sortie, and I can no longer 
hope for succor till the end of the combat, and 
probably till morning. 

" My blood soon ceased to flow, without doubt, 
for I felt my strength revive. 

" You think perhaps. Messieurs, that I lay there 
bewailing my unfortunate lot, thus finding myself 
alone, in the night, wounded and deprived of all 
assistance. Ma foi 1 no ! on the contrary, I re- 
peated, ten times, the hono hesef^ the ca va hien 
(all for the best) of the African, and retaking the 
road our companions had followed in issuing 
from the parallel, I strove to reach, as expedi- 
tiously as the case would permit, the field hospi- 
tal at the depot of the trenches. 

" Bono hesef^ all for the best, in African lingo 1 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 49 

hono hesefl — yes such are the first words from 
my lips wlieii the trumpet fell from my hands. 
Thanks, Messieurs les Busses, you send me on sick 
furlough ! thanks to you ! by favor of your cylin- 
drical ball, I shall again see my country, my 
old mother, and friends — hono hesef. 

" No one had perceived, or, at least, appeared 
to pay attention to me, when I fell, except the 
Lieutenant, who feeling my bayonet-point graze 
his thigh, feared I had ripped his pantaloons. 
But, assured of the contrary the of&cer burst 
into a loud laugh on hearing me cry, bono hesef/ 
and disappeared in the whirlwind of combatants. 

"I saw him the next morning, borne upon a 
litter into the operation-tent of the third division 
hospital. He was not laughing then, and as for 
me, I was smoking my pipe. 

" But we will not anticipate events, since you 
appear to listen to me with interest. I was quite 
familiar with the road to the depot, having fre- 
quently observed it in day-light, but this evening, 
weakened by loss of blood, I advanced but 
slowly, the left hand in my belt to support my 
arm, wounded near the joint, and carrying in the 
right, my rifle and trumpet. 

" Our parallel, where I first thought of taking 
shelter, was still a hundred metres distant, when 
I perceived, that bullets from that side, which, 
till then, had passed over my head, began to 



50 RECOLLECTIONS OP A ZOUAVE. 

rebound beside me, and strew tlie earth tbickly, 
while balls buzzed in my ears like veritable 
bees. 

" ' Hold !' said I, whirling in another direction, 
' one ball is enough for convalescence, and I do 
not need a bullet for final leave — ' 

"And love of life restored the use of my 
legs, so that, I executed a gymnastic chace and 
plunged into the nearest part of the parallel. It 
was dark as Erebus, darker than without even, 
but still not enough so to prevent my discerning 
the outlines of a sentinel, who, without crying, 
Qui vive ! would have shot me like a dog, had I 
not been beforehand and yelled out, 'France! 
what regiment ?' 

" A sentinel, two paces from the enemy, can 
not enact the politeness of a Qui vive to 
strangers advancing towards him. One night, 
the Eussians surprised one of our posts and 
massacred the soldiers after having replied to the 
Qui vive 'I Friends! English! Since then, a stand- 
ing order from General Forey interdicts the 
Qui vive in such circumstances. 

" I advanced toward the shadow of this sup- 
posed sentinel, crying, 

" ' France ! what regiment ?' 

" To my joy, the reply was, 

"'Zouaves.' 

"And I went forward and found there, not a 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 51 

sentinel, but a friend, an old comrade, leaning 
against tlie wall of tlie trencli, arms crossed, and 
musket between his knees, peaceably smoking 
bis pipe. 

" ' Ah, my old friend,' said I to bim, breathing 
quick, and feeling myself sinking, now that 
balls and bullets no longer stimulated me, ' come 
to my aid ; I am wounded !' 

"And I fell fainting at his feet, despite the 
arm he extended to support me. How many 
minutes I remained thus, I know not — I thought 
myself about to go into the other world, when I 
found my arm hooked to the elbow of Berthier, 
(my comrade's name) and walking, supported by 
him, in the direction of the field hospital. 

'"It appears you have received a terrible 
boring in the shoulder,' said Berthier. 

" ' Yes, I feel that the ball has dug deep. The 
blood flowed like wine from a broken claret 
cask. And I have lost so much that I ought to 
be light as an empty barrel. I reel, support 
me.' 

'"Fear not, the hole is stopped. I made a 
bandage for your shoulder with my belt, and 
yours serves as a scarf for your arm.' 

" ' Thank you, my friend.' 

'"Take courage first, and you may return 
thanks afterwards.' 

" ' And my wife — where is she ?' 



62 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' Here.' 

" ' And my jonjou ?'^ 

" ' Here, also.' 

" And lie stowed me my clarion under his 
arm-pit on one side, and my rifle, which, he 
carried beneath the bandoleer with his own. 

"We walked thus together for nearly two 
hours, and I now feel astonished that I had 
strength enough to sustain myself an instant. 
We were obliged to make a wide circuit to 
elude the grape-shot, ascend the English ravine, 
and pass the Engineer's depot. 

" Berthier, with amiable solicitude, endeavored 
to calm my sufferings, and render the route less 
tedious and painful by talking of the corporal 
who had permitted him to conduct me to the 
ambulance. 

" I forgot to mention that he was not alone in 
the trench when I took him for a sentinel ; the 
men of his platoon were smoking a few paces 
from him. 

'"What then was this platoon doing in the 
trench ?" I inquired. 

'" Ah,' he replied, 'that concerns the corporal. 
The platoon had been sent at twilight on extra 
duty outside the camp, and was returning to 
rejoin the battalion, when, arriving where you 



Toy. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 63 

encountered ns, we heard shooting from below. 
"Boys," said the corporal, "the battalion was 
there when we left ; it is no longer there when 
we return. In my opinion, we should go no 
farther in search of it. For the interest of the 
French army, I transform you into a corps of 
reserve. Halt, then, and let us smoke a pipe." 
And our platoon accordingly bivouacked in the 
middle of the trench.' 

" ' He is a good soldier — the corporal. I have 
now seen him many times at work, and never 
without fire in his eye.' 

" ' Ko, certainly, he is not a coward, but he 
is become a conservator^ like many others.' 

" ' A conservator ?' 

" ' Yes ; conservator of his skin.' 

" ' How so ? is his skin more valuable now 
than formerly ?' 

' " No, but that which he possesses at this time 
may not appertain to him six months hence.' 

" ' I do not comprehend.' 

" ' He is exempted from service since the first 
of January, and should have already returned 
home. But, according to the ordinance, he 
, cannot quit the army till his place is supplied 
by a new soldier, and this conscript is not eager 
to arrive. Do you understand now ?' 

" ' Partially. The corporal fought hke a lion 
up to the 31st of December last, at midnight.' 



54 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' That was for government paj, and lie worked 
conscientiously.' 

'"And now lie does not see tlie necessity of 
being shot, when free from service. 

" 'Ah, ma foi, he is not the only one who 
reasons thus in the army of the East.' 

" ' That is true — but even they do not march 
less boldly against the enemy, when ordered. 
Passive obedience has replaced zeal, that is all ; 
and extra duty is accomplished without enthu- 
siasm.' 

" We chatted thus along, and Berthier used 
every effort to prevent the conversation from 
flagging; for as soon as he paused, I became 
silent too, and appeared to suffer cruelly. 

" A new torture, that of thirst, began to aug- 
ment my agonies. 

"'Oh, how I thirst, old comrade; how I 
thirst !' murmured I, panting. 

" ' It is always the case after great loss of 
blood,' replied Berthier, gently. 

" ' My tongue is dry as a file— it scorches the 
palate.' 

" ' Try to create some saliva, and swallow it.' 

" ' I have none, and I can only swallow the hot 
air in my mouth, and burning my throat.' 

" ' Have patience ; probably we will encounter 
some comrades with their canteens.' 

'"Patience! that is easily said.' 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. OO 

" Had rain fallen the preceding week, I would 
have sought with my foot a puddle in the ravine, 
and lying flat on the ground, have lapped it 
like a dog ; but the weather had been perfectly 
clear for many days, and the sun had dried up 
the furrows and troughs dug by the bombs, 
without leaving a particle of mud, for I would 
have been glad even to have respired the 
moisture of that. 

" Oh, how terrible this feverish thirst ! I was 
not only parched in mouth and throat, but in my 
whole body ; and no longer suffering from the 
wound, should, I believe, have become wild, had 
not Berthier cried out — 

" ' Halt! here is liquid 1' 

" It was really so. We had arrived before a 
breast-work of the English encampment; and 
Berthier, after three rapid words of warning — 
'French, friends, and wounded' — dragged me 
towards a tent, in which a lantern was burning. 
We entered, without noticing the grade of its 
occupants. I was thirsty, and wanted drink — 
the English must give it me, whether soldiers, 
ensigns, officers, or generals. 

"But see the chance! This is a canteen, and 
at the first gesture of my right hand the panto- 
mime is understood, and they offer me rum, mas- 
tic, raki, whiskey, brandy, hot wine, coffee, beer, 
etc. 



56 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' Thank yon, thank you, Englishmen ; I 
wish water, nothing but pure water.' 

" And to the great wonder of the fusileers — 
whether the Coldstreams, Highlanders, or Scotch, 
I know not — I emptied one, two, three goblets, 
successively, and should have swallowed many 
more, had not Berthier and my new friends been 
there to interpose. 

" While I was quenching my thirst, Berthier 
responded bravely to a dozen toasts in honor 
of the allied armies. 

" Eevived by the water, I seated myself on a 
bench, to encourage the circulation in my veins. 
But as strength and reason returned, so did the 
pain of my shoulder — unremitting and severe. 

'"Does it recommence to gnaw?' said Ber- 
thier, between two toasts. 

" ' Yes ; and still hard I' 

" ' In effect, you take a sun-stroke in the wrong 
place.' 

" ' This goes to my heart.' 

" ' You turn pale and green, with a face painted 
by moonlight ; and weeping, I do believe.' 

" ' I weeping ! oh, no !' I answered, gulping 
two huge tears, ready to drop, and strangling a 
sob of grief; ' no, I do not weep !' 

" ' It would soothe jou, perhaps.' 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 57 

" ' Pshaw ! STiall a soldier of France ever 
weep in tlie presence of tliose of England ? 
"Were we alone, it would scarcely be excusable 
• — although, pain relieved by tears is less hard to 
bear. But here! fear not, old comrade, I shall 
not weep.' 

"And Berthier pressed my hand silently, as if 
to thank me. 

" ' Here is a drop of gin,' said he, the next in- 
stant, 'which will give you strength, if you 
moisten the end of your tongue with it.' 

'"I prefer a pipe — light one for me.' 

" 'One need not hinder the other.' 

'"Ko! no gin, only a pipe. Let these John 
Bulls see what a Zouave can do with a cylindro- 
conical ball in him.' 

" And I began to smoke, like a Swiss taking 
his ease. Suddenly I issued an oath — one of 
satisfaction, a mille tonnerres of welcome. As I 
have already told you, I had the fingers of the 
left hand in my belt to support the arm, when 
after a long respiration of smoke, and an effort 
to puff it towards a fat Scotchman, who seemed 
to be ridiculing me, doubtless because I had 
drunk only water, I felt something cold, round, 
and heavy, roll from my belt, and slip into the 
palm of my hand. I looked — it is a ball ! ^ 

" ' Behold it !' I exclaimed — ' see, here is the 
bee that stuns: me !' 

o 

6 



58 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

"And the cylindrical ball circulated from 
hand to hand, and the English felicitated me 
that the surgeon would not be obliged to probe 
my shoulder in search of it. 

" I must confess, it was not without trembling 
in advance, that I had thought of this future 
operation ; accordingly, believing myself de- 
livered from the apprehension, I gaily retook the 
road to the ambulance. "We finally reached 
this hospital after a walk of two hours and a 
half, at midnight, over a route macadamized 
with musket-barrels, bullets, fragments of broken 
utensils, and lighted by bomb-matches instead 
of gas-burners. The hospital, at the depot of 
the trenches, first received those whose wounds 
would require longer time than the regi- 
mental surgeons could devote ; so that as soon 
as the wounded arrived there, they endeavored 
to put them in a state to bear being transported 
in a litter, cacolet, or a wagon, from the depot to 
the barracks at Inkermann-mill, where they re- 
mained two or three days, till there were vacant 
beds in the large hospital at head-quarters. 
These vacancies occurred whenever a packet or 
transport-ship conveyed to Yarna, Constanti- 
nople, or to France, those henceforth disabled 
from service, and others whose healing must be 
so tedious and difficult as to require change of 
air and quietude. Our provisionary hospital 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 59 

consists of tliree tents; one for the inspection 
of fractured limbs, the subjects of which take 
refuge in the other two, to await the departure 
of the litters, wagons, &c., for the' divisionary 
hospital. 

" When the engagement has been a warm one, 
the victims form a line in front of the first tent. 
This evening, the Surgeon-major would not want 
practice ; but I was one of the first to arrive — 
about the fifth or sixth. I did not therefore wait 
long ere presenting myself for dressing. Show- 
ing the surgeon the ball that I supposed to have 
issued from my shoulder, 

" ' Hold !' said he, ' do you pretend that this 
piece of lead has entered your shoulder ?" 

" ' Yes, Major, as it came out of it.' 

" ' You pretend that this ball levelled you to the 
earth when it struck ?' 

" 'Yes, Major, as I am relieved of it.' 

" ' Well argued, for a trumpeter. Have you 
any bones in your shoulder ?' 

" ' Yes, Major, for I feel that there is one bro- 
ken.' 

" ' Well, as you pretend, this ball has entered 
your shoulder. If it struck you with sufficient 
violence to break a bone, and cast you to the 
earth, this piece of lead should exhibit traces of 
having been flattened. But it is smooth as if 
just from the mould, and therefore not the one 



60 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

wliich gave the stroke. Come, come, I under- 
stand your game. You are afraid of mj search- 
ing for the real ball buried in the wound, and 
have picked up this one as a pill for me to swal- 
low. Approach.' 

" And I went forward, for he must be obeyed, 
and the executioner, dilating the orifice of my 
wound with his great finger, searched a long 
time, scratching my flesh with his nail, and 
makino; the fractured bones crack. 

" The ball was still there, for I felt it move. It 
had entered the top of my shoulder on the fore 
part of the stump, and slipped half way down 
the arch of the arm-pit. 

" ' That will do for the present,' said the Major, 
withdrawing his bloody finger. Then he inquired 
concerning the firing we still heard in the dis- 
tance, put a little lint on the gash, wrapped my 
shoulder in a linen bandage, and dismissed me, 
exclaiming, 

" ' Another !' 

" I went to lie down in an adjoining tent, on 
a mat covered over with a fragment of gray 
woolen. It was not so comfortable as a sorry mat- 
trass, but it was better than nothing. I shivered. 
The upper part of my body was almost naked, 
for my net had been cut to dress the wound, 
and I had cast off my shirt, soaked in blood. 
The nurse gave me a blanket, and a glass of hot 



EECOLLECTIO^TS OF A ZOUAVE. 61 

wine. This warmed me within and without, and 
I then began to reflect on my distressing situa- 
tion. 

"I no longer said bono hese/,foT I was suffering 
horribly, and depressed at the thought of the ball 
lodged in my flesh. 

" But whence, then, came the one which had 
slipped into my hand, while smoking the pipe at 
the English quarters? I mechanically detached 
ray belt, unrolled it, observed by the lantern how 
stiff it had become from the blood, and perceived 
that it was perforated in five or six places, all of 
which formed but one when folded. Ah! I 
understood then, on seeing my belt thus pierced, 
from whence came the fresh ball that had fallen 
into the palm of my hand. This ball, aimed at 
my breast, had glanced aside in the folds of the 
belt, and, but for this belt, I had exchanged my 
sick furlough for a passport into the other world. 

"Careless as I was, I nevertheless did thank the 
good God by a deep sigh of gratitude. 

"I shall carry this belt to my old mother. She 
will preserve it as a relic that saved the life of 
her beloved son, and will not cease to thank God 
daily for me. 

" I would gladly have rested in this tent till 
morning, but the wounded arrived in crowds, 
and the first-comers must give place to others, 



62 KECOLLECTIOISrS OF A ZOUAVE. 

and repair, eitlier on foot or in a litter, to tlie 
divisionary hospital at the mill of Inkermann. 

" I preferred ascending on foot the steep sides 
of the hill, rather than be hoisted, like a basket 
of provisions, on the back of a mule. Four or 
five comrades, slightly wounded, accompanied 
me, and I appeared before a new surgeon with a 
resolution to forestal the investigation of his 
finger — I had too dolorous a recollection of his 
confrere's. I accordingly presented him the ball 
that had glanced beneath my belt, as having 
fallen there, after grazing my shoulder below the 
epidermis, passing downward in a superficial line 
of only some centimetres. 

"He was so busy, as well as his assistants, this 
good surgeon, that my story was not scrutinized, 
and after a fresh dressing, they classed me in the 
number of those to be evacuated as soon as pos- 
sible into the hospital at head- quarters. 

" I thus escaped a new torture. The probing of 
my wound was useless, for the presence of this 
strange intruder in the wound being already 
established, the operation of extraction could not 
be undertaken immediately. At the divisionary 
hospitals they only perform operations strictly 
indispensable, and the extraction of this ball 
could, without inconvenience, be retarded several 
days. 

"I took my place for the rest of the night on a 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 63 

plank bed, ia a large barrack, containing about 
fifty other wonnded, some leaning against tlie 
enclosure, others stretched at full length, and all 
in a line, on either side of the room, so as to 
leave in the middle a narrow pathway for the 
nurses and physicians, bordered by the shoes of 
such as, like myself, had preserved their legs. 

" The dim reflections of a lantern flitted over 
that scene. The regulations interdicted conversa- 
tion, and if an involuntary exclamation, wrested 
by pain, echoed in the midst of this company 
fresh from the ranks, vigorous blasts of the 
whistle imposed silence. The next morning, the 
head surgeon of our corps made a visit of inspec- 
tion. My wound was now probed, the presence 
of the ball ascertained, and I was placed in a 
wagon to be conveyed to head quarters, where 
I at length obtained a bed. 

"I remained there for five days, subject to the 
hospital regimen, which reduced me perceptibly. 
Every morning and evening the surgeon plunged 
into my shoulder a long silver stylet, announced 
increased inflammation in the region of it, and 
passed on to another subject, shaking his head 
and murmuring dreadful words aside to his 
assistants. 

" The little that I understood of these seemed 
not very consoling; he spoke of disjointing my 
arm, the executioner! Bono vesef! Disjoint my 



64 EECOLLECTION'S OF A ZOUAVE. 

arm ! Ah, death, rather death a hundred 
times ! 

"And those rascally nurses of whom I de- 
manded the meaning of disjointing, though too 
well aware myself of the state of the case ; those 
ruffians, for encouragement, replied to me, 
laughing, that I could only fight^ henceforth^ with 
one wing I 

" My recovery being necessarily protracted, it 
was decided that the operation should be 
attempted at a hospital of the Bosphorus, and the 
sixth day from my arrival at head-quarters, I 
received orders to mount a cacolet for Kameish, 
from whence a steamboat would transport me to 
Constantinople. 

" I am asked continually what kind of a place 
Kamiesh is, and also Balaklava, and because I 
sojourned seven or eight months in the Crimea, 
they deem me familiar with all the by-ways and 
mysteries of these two cities, here represented as 
garrisons of nursery maids. But I only entered 
Kamiesh, our Paris of these latitudes, once, and 
then to embark in the capacity of an invalid, 
and have never, even at a distance, seen the 
London of the English, Balaklava. 

" The Crimean Zouave lives more unsheltered 
than the Zouave of Algeria. In Algeria we 
find, on returning from a campaign of several 
weeks, good lodgings and civil hosts. Here, the 



BECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 65 

tent or barrack for an apartment, one night ont 
of three, the trenches for a garrison, and the 
campaign, always an active one, without rest, 
halt or winter quarters. 

" I have sounded the march, together with my 
comrade Fritcher, from Gallipoli to Adrianople, 
and from Adrianople to Yarna, on twenty-five 
long day's rations, with the cholera pursuing us, 
and have recommenced from Eupatoria to the 
heights of Chersonesus, and so continually 
throughout, without ever quitting our encamp- 
ment and trenches. 

" The town of Kamiesh was then as unknown 
to me as the cities of the moon, until the time of 
my entrance on the cacolet ; when I was com- 
pelled to descend immediately into the barge 
which transported, in a lump, three hundred 
wounded to an English steamship, the Lady 
Jocelyn, already getting up steam for the Bos- 
phorus. 

"I cannot describe what emotion I felt on 
quitting forever that country, where I left so 
many friends behind me, living and dead ! 



6Q EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LADY JOCELYN. — THE PASSAGE, — MY COMRADE. — THE 
PARISIAN RUSSE. RUSSIAN BOOTS. — THE BOSPHORUS. 

" The Lady Jocelyn was one of these immense 
English screw-steamers, chartered by the govern- 
ment to carry troops, horses and ammunition to 
the Crimea. They were availing themselves of 
her return by lading her with a cargo of three 
hundred disabled, sick and wounded, consigned 
to the hospital of Constantinople. 

" Here it may be said, en ^assant^ that the 
Grand Turk has done a great deal ; we asked 
him for hospitals, and he gave us his own, and 
if they did not suffice, he would still give his 
barracks, monuments, palaces, even to the garden 
of the seraglio. (The old one, understand, that 
wherein all the ladies have been emancipated.) 

" If I had borne, without much swearing, the 
torture of the cacolet of the regulation, from the 
head-quarters to Kamiesh, it was that I hoped to 
find a little ease and comfort aboard the Lady 
Jocelyn, doubtless arranged as a ship-hospital. 
I could not imagine that they would pack three 
hundred invalids, as they had our battalions, in 
sound condition, for one year, from Stora to Gal- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 67 

lipoli, on a sliip of tlie line; the last voyage 
endured seventeen days; and during tliese seven- 
teen days and seventeen nights the floor of the 
upper and middle decks served as a camp bed. 

" My calculation was false, my hope vain. 
Arrived onboard the Lady Jocelyn^ we enquired 
for our quarters. ' There,' replied the mate, 
striking the deck with his foot, ' there,' and with 
his hand indicating our limits, from the foot 
of the main-mast to the beak-head. 

" ' It will answer for the day ; and our births 
for the night, where are they ?' 

" ' Here also,' again stamping his foot. 

" ' What, neither blanket nor mattrass ?' 

" ' Yonder are mattrasses,' and he pointed to a 
mule-box, such as this, filled with piles of 
woolen coverlets, damp, filthy, and stained with 
blood. 

" ' And if rain should fall ?' 

" To this question he made no reply, but burst 
into a silly, jeering horse-laugh, as if to say, 
' It is all one to me.' 

" ' And the night air ; how shall we be pro- 
tected against that ?' 

" Another laugh. 

" ' What ! all these wounded, with limbs just 
fractured or fresh from the amputating knife, to 
be so exposed and tossed hither and thither on 
deck, by the rolling and pitching of the ship, "^or 



68 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the lengtli of a voyage to Thopana, wMther they 
are bound?' 

" A shrug of the shoulders answers ' Oui.^ 

" Ah ! it is horrible, this English fashion of 
transporting the wounded. 

" ' Be comforted, friends,' said an Englishman, 
murdering our beautiful language, ' be com- 
forted, the fore part of the hold is free— you can 
have there a litter of straw ten metres thick, 
with air from above ; and besides, the voyage 
will only endure thirty-six hours — have patience 
then.' 

"And patient we were obliged to be. We 
were more uncomfortable than upon the iV^7, 
for only those with sound wrists could exercise 
the faculty of descending into the El Dorado of 
the hold. 

" You will agree with me that this way of tra- 
versing sea is not the most delightful in the 
world, especially for men in our condition ; the 
greater number of whom, deprived of a limb or 
part of one, suffering from fresh, open wounds, 
and enriched with a plumb stone or fragment of 
projectile lodged in his flesh. 

" Oh, the infernal torments of that passage of 
forty-eight hours, from the Chersonese to the 
Bosphorus I Fortunately the weather continued 
calm ! The mildest storm would have carried 
off platoons with fever and dysentery." 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 69 

Like a true African Zouave, wont to make 
myself comfortable everywhere, I liad soon taken 
in at a glance the whole position of affairs, 
and calculated how to make the best of it. I 
selected my bed-chamber as I did this, out of 
sight and contact with the crowd, and to be 
assured of privileged rations, contracted a friend- 
ship with the head cook by recalling to his 
memory a previous acquaintance in America ; 
he did not understand a word that I said, the 
bonest Englishman, but he did not the less pro- 
test by signs that he was familiar with French, 
and that henceforth, we were friends for life and 
death. 

" My plans laid, an assistant was necessary to 
put them in execution, accordingly, I entered 
into a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, 
with a comrade of the First Division of Zouaves, 
who had but one leg ; his two hands would 
serve to dress my wound and prepare our meals, 
while my two legs would have the out-door 
department ; it was a representation of the apo- 
logue of the clairvoyant cripple and the nimble 
blind man, forming one by uniting. 

" Here, I am associated with a chasseur of the 
infantry, whose health the major has so much 
repaired. 

" ' Attention !' said I, to my comrade, ' and let us 
stand sentry on each side of this mule-box, from 



70 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

whicTi blankets were being witlidrawn for distri- 
bution among the passengers; 'attention! and 
wben tlie box shall be nearly empty, and I have 
penetrated into it, repulse with a vigorous push, 
those covetous of sharing our lodging.' 

" N'o sooner said than done — a quarter of an 
hour after our departure from Kamiesh, I had 
already transformed the box into a bed-room. 
Three or four blankets adroitly filched by my 
two-handed associate during the distribution, 
then twice doubled and extended across the part 
of the deck in the limits of the box, performed 
the office of the most luxurious Persian carpet. 
At the end of the apartment, our clothes-bags, 
wrapped in another blanket, served as divans by 
day and pillows by night ; one more blanket, in 
fine, hung, as if on a clothes-horse, over the 
frame of the box, shielded us from wind, sun 
and rain, so that when the cripple and I were 
weary of the broad daylight, we entered our 
habitation, shut the door, and made a party of 
short-pipe, seated, like real Pachas, on our 
cushions, and so on till the hour for sleep, and 
then we stretched ourselves out — I with my two 
leg's, he with his one. 

" When the summons to supper sounded, I went 
to the distribution for both, and never failed to 
get something to boot by the side-play of my 
acqiiaintance with America. As already said, 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 71 

mj comrade rendered his quota of services, and 
wlien I remembered that, on leaving the Pera 
hospital, we must pass ten days at sea between 
Stamboul and Marseilles, I desired nothing so 
much as such a comjpagnon de voyage for associ- 
ate, and a box for a cabin. 

" Thanks to Pere Mery, my aspirations are ful- 
filled. Two disabled soldiers never meet with- 
out recounting their hopes and adventures. 

" The Zouave of the first regiment no longer 
sported one leg after the night of January 31st. 
A cannon ball finding the calf in its passage, 
carried it off, and the surgeon had only to 
regulate that stump by the other. He has 
now left the barracks at head-quarters perfectly 
healed, and is, on our arrival at Constanti- 
nople, to be transported on board the packet 
leaving for France. We were both in similar 
case, — no one had seen us fall in the combat, nor 
sought to raise us to continue the fight ; accord- 
ingly, our names do not figure in any despatch, 
and we are not decorated either with cross of 
honor or medal. 

" Ma foil I do not lament extremely this neg- 
lect. I have done my duty, and only my duty, 
and obeyed my captain and the regulations. 
Well ! am I therefore braver, or more meritorious, 
because a night-ball has happened to silence my 
whistle? or is he a passed hero, since adorned 



72 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

witli pins ? If they decorated all tlie wounded, 
especially those with gun shots, there would be 
more cowards he-ribbanded than brave men. 
As to giving us a berth in the Hotel des Inva- 
lides, that is different — it is a right due to the 
homeless. Suppose me a dancing-master by 
profession — I lose both legs in the service of my 
country ; it is no more than just that she aid me 
hence forth to journey along the path of life. 

"Nevertheless, the circumstances attending our 
wounds were rather out of the common order. 
You remember, that on rising from the earth 
with my fractured shoulder, I still wished to 
sound the charge, and was prevented by the sand 
that obstructed the mouth of my trumpet. Cer- 
tainly, the general who should have observed me 
then, manifesting such resolution, would not have 
failed to signalize my conduct in the order of the 
day to the army ; but if I recount it, will it be 
credited without witness ? 

"My comrade of the First was left for dead, 
during a night and morning, on the battle-field. 
They raised him at the moment of truce, and, 
by singular coincidence, it happened this day 
that I fulfilled the functions of truce-trumpeter. 
I am not drawing a long bow, comrade, for the 
circumstances of that suspension of arms are 
perfectly remembered by me. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 73 

"It took place at ten in tlie morning, to the left 
of our trenches, and near the great cemetery. A 
cannoneer lifted over the parapet a ramrod, at the 
end of which floated a large piece of white linen, 
and the officer ordered me to sound cessez le feu^ 
(cease fire). I sounded right and left — the same 
peal reverberated to the farthest end of the 
entire line. 

" The officer then rejoined, on the parapet, the 
cannoneer, who still held his flag alofto There 
I gave four blasts, and instantly a white flag 
appeared on the Quarantine bastion, and the 
firing having ceased on both sides, we advanced 
along the cemetery to meet a Kussian officer 
coming towards us, accompanied by a soldier also 
carrying a white banner. These Messieurs, stop- 
ping at a few paces of each other, saluted, 
exchanged despatches, then separated after a 
pressure of the hand. During this time I had 
given a quid to the soldier of Kicholas, who 
kept repeating, ^ Bono^ bono, bono.'' We retarned 
along the lines, and while the white flag 
continued hoisted on the Quarantine ( flag- 
staff) on the Russian side, it waved from the 
Clocheton on that of the French, and the work- 
ing squad commenced burying the dead of the 
previous night. 

''This truce lasted three hours, and I heard, 
during the time, a report of a Zouave's having 



74 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

been conveyed to tlie hospital, found alive, 
buried beneath a pile of Russians. His one leg 
had been carried off by a ball. The cold alone 
saved him from death, by staying the effusion of 
blood. Well, this poor devil, found interred 
under the Cossacks, was my box-companion on 
the Lady Jocelyn. Loungers and others, at- 
tracted by curiosity, came frequently to visit us. 
We received no one in our saloon, but permitted 
all to lean outside and gossip with us, until there 
chanced to arise any topic of mutual irritation. 

" One day, I was astonished to see a Russian 
prisoner (thirty were being transported to the 
pontoons of the borne d'or) approach and salute 
us. I at first supposed a deserter was before us ; 
but he hastened to say, that he was the servant 
of a Russian officer, a prisoner, and wounded 
like himself, and that he had, previous to the 
war, resided at Paris. 

"This Russian was not slovenly, repulsive, 
hideous, gloomy, and taciturn, as his country- 
men generally are. On the contrary, of pleasing 
appearance, animated, joyous, and talkative, he 
seemed to regard his fate, as prisoner of war, 
a subject for gratulation, in prospect of a return 
to France. 

"Commensurate with his friendly disposition 
towards us of the French troops, was his hatred 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 75 

to the wounded Englisli that belonged to the 
convoy. 

" If questioned concerning the garrison and for- 
tifications of Sebastopol, he would instantly as- 
sume a serious reserve ; and if I persisted, adding 
the assurance that we should ere long be in pos- 
session of the place, he would reply, with an 
ironical smile — 

" ' If Totleben give you leave.' 

" This, you know, is the engineer in superin- 
tendence of the fortifications of Sebastopol, and 
said to be a very young man. 

"This Eussian, demi-Parisian domestic amused 
us exceedingly, when in the vein of ridiculing 
the superstitions of his compatriots ; he, more- 
over, elucidated the true, exciting causes of the 
war, according to the received version among 
the Eussian people. 

" ' You English and French fight for policy ; 
we Eussians, for a divine purpose. Listen, why 
we have taken up arms. The Turks had mas- 
sacred the bishops and priests of Jerusalem. 
Almighty God, indignant, sent a zotnhms of 
angels, to remove thence the tomb of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and suspend it on high, far from 
that polluted soil; and commanded the Czar 
to avenge the Pagan sacrilege. The emperor 
obeyed Grod, and declared war against the 
Infidels. He is dead ; but the Emperor Alex- 



76 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

ander will continue the conflict, and must, neces- 
sarily, be conqueror of tlie heathen Turks, and 
infidel Christians who defend them. Yes, he 
will be victor, aided by Heaven, and enter Jeru- 
salem at the head of his vast armies. The tomb 
of our Lord Jesus Christ will then re-descend 
into its place ; the phalanxes, whole pullcs of 
angels will range themselves along the passage 
of the Eussian troops, and present them arms; 
and then the Czar will be master of the entire 
world, which, delivered from its errors, will be 
converted to the orthodox faith.' 

" This Eussian prisoner had acquired the French 
language at Paris itself, where his master had 
resided for more than four years ; he was well 
acquainted with theatrical people, and recounted 
to us various rather ticklish adventures of the most 
celebrated ladies of the epoch, (1848); but these 
adventures were void of interest and relish to me, 
but a youth when those fair ones occupied the 
scandalous chronicle of the day, and since then, 
my life has been spent in camp. Accordingly, 
carino; little for the revelations of this domestic 
of a debauchee-prince, I always turned our con- 
versations on the war of the Crimea. But my 
first questions transformed him immediately; 
and the gossiping valet became a circumspect 
soldier. Scarcely could we wrest from him any 
information as to the customs of his nation ; he 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 77 

denied the knout as a disciplinary punisTiment ; 
lie denied also that, previous to combat, extra- 
ordinary rations of whiskey, strong enough to 
intoxicate whole battalions, were distributed to 
the soldiers; and yet, I have, very certainly, 
seen Russians so inebriated as to suffer them- 
selves to be taken prisoners, without resistance, 
during attacks of ambuscades. 

" ' Is it true,' I asked him, ' that even in the 
depth of winter, the Russians advanced bare- 
footed in the direction of our parallels, to sur- 
prise our night workmen ?' 

" 'Never,' replied he ; ' never.' 

" ' But, I have remarked, when an armistice 
was proclaimed for interment of the dead, most 
of the Russian corpses without boots !' 

" ' That was because your marauders had car- 
ried them off before dawn.' 

"'Oh, no!' I replied, indignantly; 'never 
have Zouaves com^mitted such sacrilege.' 

" ' ISTot Zouaves, possibly ; but there are other 
soldiers than Zouaves in the Anglo-French 
armies.' 

" ' He is right, the Muscovite,' said an old 
moustache of the foreign legion, a manchot (one- 
armed) like myself, who had tarried beside our 
box to listen to the discourse. ' He is right. 
See, I wear a pair of boots procured from the 
regiment of Okhotsh chasseurs ; I picked them 



78 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

up after tlie eight hours' combat of the 13th of 
March. These boots are better than our shoes, 
and nearly all the men of the legion are thus 
shod. Famous merchandize, these boots ! leather 
soft, and well sewed. Worth ten pairs of the 
ordinance shoes.' 

" A blush of shame covered my face. He un- 
derstood it, and added — 

" ' Do our boots make you blush ? Give me, 
then, the address of your shoemaker. Ah! 
young man ! that shame honors you, but it in- 
volves a trap for colds. How 1 did you think 
in your encampments, that the gentlemen of Se- 
bastopol would enter within the parallels as 
Mussulmen enter mosques, first depositing their 
slippers at the door ? I beg your pardon ! 
You do not understand, then, that the buffoons 
of the legion spread this scandal, to conceal 
their boot-maraudings ?' 

" ' But how did you unboot the Eussians ?' 

" ' Thus : as soon as you trumpeters had sounded 
the breloque^ after victory, and returned into tent, 
the divisions of the siege to sleep till daylight, 
except the main guard, sentinels, workmen, and 
squadrons on duty and of the reserve, four or 
£ve volunteers from among us would leave the 
parallel together, and, crawling on all fours, slip 
stealthily to the place of the last combat. Our 
sentinels, taking them for scouts, let them pass ; 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 79 

a quarter of an. hour after, more or less, accord- 
ing to the distance, the savatiers, cobblers as we 
call them, return with a load of boots, which are 
at an expedient time collected in one barrack, 
and each comrade selects a pair to fit, paying a 
tax of a few centimes, deposited in a money- 
box, to constitute a private treasure of the 
legion, the employment of which is to be decided 
after the campaign. 

" 'At first, our chiefs knew not what to think 
on seeing us so well shod, for, in truth, the 
whole garrison of Sebastopol seems to have 
been newly dressed and shod lately. 

" ' Our of&cers supposed that a speculator from 
Kamiesh had credited the legion ; but the plot 
soon got wind, and for the interest of our health 
they shut their eyes. 

" 'We, at the same time, opened a shop of the 
inferior boots, for the other corps ; and, by the 
way, high personages have honored us with 
their patronage. For, only see, young man, how 
soft this Russian leather is, and how strongly 
stitched !' 

"And the old legionary turned off, to talk with 
another one of his regiment, a sort of giant, 
wrapped in a huge frock-coat of white goat- 
skin. 

"This frock-coat was so unlike our winter vest- 
ments, as to impel me to award it a foreign 



80 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

origin, the same, probably, as the Okbotsli 
boots ; hereafter, you will see that my inference 
was not far wrong. 

"The Lady Jocelyn pursued her course, while 
we gossiped on ; and, thanks to what our sailors 
call temps de demoiselles^^ she crossed the Black 
Sea, and sailed down the Bosphorus, as tranquilly 
as the steamboat of the Quai d'Orsay descends 
the Seine to St. Cloud. 

"I even found that the descent was too rapid, 
scarcely leaving me time to admire the pretty 
palaces, whose stone-colored facades of yellow, 
green, and red, were reflected in the blue waters 
of the canal. 

" ' What splendid barracks ! They should have 
princesses for sutlers,' said our comrades, twirl- 
ing their moustaches, believing that the odalisks, 
peeping stealthily from behind the close Vene- 
tians, gazed at them in passing. 

"The fact is, that there was seen something- 
shining within the obscurity of those peep-holes, 
ardent, fiery, and round as a twenty -four bullet- 
hole. 

" The panorama of the Bosphorus was new to 
me ; the ship of the line that transported the 
African regiment to the East having landed us 
at Gallipoli, from whence I made a land-journey 
as far as Kustendji. 

* Mild •weather. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 81 

" Fortj-eight hours after our departure from 
Kamiesb, we disembarked at the port of Tho- 
pana, two paces from the arsenal. They ex- 
empted us from quarantine, employees of the 
Intendance and infirmary sergeants were await- 
ing us, and, for an instant, I could have 
imagined myself stepping on the soil of France, 
on seeing the gendarmes forming guard over 
the Eussian prisoners, to conduct them, as they 
told me, upon one of the low flat-boats at the 
bottom of the port. 

" I bade adieu to my friend, the Parisian Eusse. 
He appointed me a rendezvous on the Pont- 
Neuf, at the foot of the statue of Henry lY., six 
months, precisely, after the signing of peace, at 
noon. 

" There is nothing impossible in this future ren- 
contre, if we do not meanwhile both depart for 
the other world ; he, carried off by the miseries 
of captivity on a pontoon, I, by the disarticula- 
tion of my shoulder, with which I am menaced. 

" I also separated from my box-comrade, who 
was obliged to be carried on a litter, as well as 
many others of the disabled, while those who, 
like mvself, were able to walk, threaded the 
narrow rugged streets leading from Thopana to 
the hospital of Pera." 



82 KECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEK lY. 

CONSTANTINOPLE. — HOSPITAL. — SAINT MAETHA WACD. — SISTER 
PRUDENCE. — MY BALL LEAVES ME. — COPPER GOOSEBERRIES. 
— THE OPERATION.^OBEDIENCE. — ILLNESS OP SISTER PRU- 
DENCE. — DELIRIUM. 

"I COULD witli difficulty believe myself in tlie 
capital of the Grand Turk. Wliat filthy streets, 
wretched houses, silence and gloom ! It is noon, 
and it would seem midnight. 

" Ah, how I would rouse them, these drowsy 
Osmanites, if I could only ring forth a passing 
descant from my clarion, together with my com- 
rade Fritcher ! 

" Doors, windows, sky-lights, , all closed like 
our uninhabited houses ; only there appear, at 
intervals, spice shops and tobacco and pipe 
venders. The venerable traders, seated on the 
counter, heels under them, smoke a chibouk, 
looking profoundly unconscious that a squadron 
of heroes is defiling before them. 

" The dogs alone do us the honor of stirring at 
our approach; they penetrate our ranks growling, 
scent us, covetously and seemingly divine among 
us, the dying, soon to succumb, whose limbs, bu- 
ried a la Turque^ they may gnaw hereafter. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 83 

"I will, later, describe tlie TurkisTi mode 
of sepulture. More tlian one cripple in our 
ranks, would willingly have laid his staff across 
their back-bone, but the Sergeant interposed 
with the admonition that it is strictly forbidden 
to strike these ignoble, disgusting curs. They 
venerate them here as we do storks and swallows. 
A queer country, where it is permitted to strike 
a man, and forbidden to strike a dog ! 

" Finally, we reached the top of the hill in 
front of the large hospital appropriated to us by 
the Sultan, prepared to receive twelve hundred 
woanded. 

" On entering, we might have supposed our- 
selves in France. There was nothing Turkish 
but the building ; the whole arrangements, iron 
bedsteads, mattrasses, coverlets, sheets, all Euro- 
pean, radiant with order and neatness. 

" Behold me then, in a true hospital, for the 
first time since being a soldier. And shall I not 
escape the balls of the Crimea, as I have the 
African fevers ? Shall I go hence alive ? And 
if so, shall I still possess the left arm, v,^hich 
the executioners at head-quarters threatened to 
lop off? 

" 'Ma foi, if I must die,' I said, looking around 
me, 'there will be at least the consolation of 
imagining myself in France ; every thing here 
recals it to me; it is another Yal de Grace.' 



84 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

This ward, in whicli my bed, surrounded by 
white curtains, divides, with that of another 
wounded, the front of a window-embrazure, is 
called the Saint Martha. On the left of the 
entrance, is the table where the Infirmary Sur- 
geon writes his prescriptions— on the right, the 
large cane chair, in which the head nurse keeps 
watch at night, and along the middle of the 
pass-ways, a broad, thick strip of green serge is 
unrolled on the floor, to prevent a sound from 
the steps of visitors, or those on duty. At the 
foot, outside his bed, is appended to the curtain- 
rod, the placard of each sick soldier. At the lower 
end of the ward, glitters in green and gold, the 
crescent and monogram of the Sultan. Above, 
a large Christ, the shoulders surcharged with con- 
secrated box- wood, bows the head, and extends 
the arms towards the martyrs of the war, and 
Sister Prudence, the ministering angel, appears. 

" Were I to live a thousand years, never could 
the recollection of her fail to stir my heart. 
Was she young? I know not. Handsome? 
I cannot tell. We did not regard her with the 
eye, we knew her only through the heart ; and 
the most hardened, the greatest bandits among 
us, obeyed, like docile infants, that Queen of 
Charity. 

" The head physician of the hospital, becoming 
interested in me at the first visit, had specially 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 85 

recommended me to the gentle care of Sister 
Prudence. But his recommendation was need- 
less, for the holy woman dispensed to us all 
alike the treasures of her inexhaustible goodness. 
I can say that I owe her my life. But for her, 
and the mild bondage to which she reduced me, 
never could my impatient, abrupt, indomitable 
nature, my rough, whimsical character, and odd 
ways of Zouave Trumpeter, have been made to 
submit for fifty -two days to the uniformity, 
quietude, and docility of hospital life ; the indis- 
pensable conditions for cure of a wound danger- 
ous as mine. 

" She commenced by taking my solemn word 
of honor that I would obey the chief surgeon, 
who had ordered me a position in bed, which I 
was forbidden to change till the next visit. I 
had been in the habit of transgressing this order, 
and it was in vain that the operator, my shoulder 
once placed upon a pillow, traced around it on 
the sheet, a pencil line, circumscribing my move- 
ments. This forced position of the shoulder 
was designed to give the wound a declivity, so 
that the ball, propelled by its own weight, should 
itself issue from the wound. But no sooner was 
the visit terminated, than I relieved myself from 
this sentinelship, I effaced the conventional 
circle with bread crumbs, and the next morning, 
traced one similar. 



86 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" The good Sister, ever vigilant, was not slow 
in detecting my artifice. But instead of pre- 
senting a complaint, wliicli would have drawn 
punishment upon me, she mediated, by obtaining 
my word of honor as a soldier, as above said, a 
pledge she esteemed sacred as that of a general. 
I thenceforth obeyed, and on the morning of the 
seventh of April, they found lodged in the lint 
of my bandage, that confounded ball which had 
put my life in danger. It was of the cylindro- 
conical species, and not uncommon. The sur- 
geon unable to extract it from its burrow, had, 
at first, feared that it was armed with five points. 
The Kussians have frequently dispatched us 
such, and we lost an ofiicer wounded in the arm 
by one of these terrible projectiles. 

" The limb penetrated by them cannot be 
saved. Amputation is inevitable, and you know 
that the patient does not always survive that 
operation. 

"I have heard it said that the benevolent 
Russians are not even content with these five- 
pointed balls, and dispatch us also small brass 
ones, round, hollow and perforated. These do 
not whistle like the others; they sing through 
the air quite melodiously, and when passing 
near, you might imagine yourself listening to the 
vibrations of an immense harp -string, hung 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 87 

from tlie Minie cannon, from whence they issue, 
to the point aimed at. 

" We named these balls groseilles^ or goose- 
berries. These copper gooseberries break in 
wounding. Their various fragments scatter in 
the flesh and slip down to the larger veins, 
which they penetrate. The surgeon can never ex- 
tract the multiplied particles of this ball, reduced 
to spangles, and the patient dies, not merely of 
his wound, but gangrened and poisoned by the 
oxydation of the projectile. 

" It is reported that our Commander-in-Chief 
has signified to Osten-Sacken that if the cara- 
bines of the Eussian soldiers continue to launch 
copper balls, he will reply by asphyxian fusees. 

" I return to number one, to myself. — The ball 
once removed, the surgeon could easily take 
the plan of the wound, within my shoulder, 
and after having calculated and reasoned upon 
the good and bad chances, he announced that 
he should not disjoint the arm, biiit pare off' a 
part already mortified, or in other words putrid 
and spoiled^ from the head-bone which they term 
the humerus. The bistouris, knives, scalpels, 
saws, pincers, ligatures, lint, every thing is ready 
in the tray borne by the nurse. The surgeon 
rolls up his shirt-sleeve — Sister Prudence leaning 
over the pillow, supports my head behind, mur- 
murs a prayer in my ear, and repeats words of 



88 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

courage and trust in God ; while an assistant 
approaches my nostrils with a pellet of wadding, 
steeped in chloroform. 

" ' Pardon me, major,' I exclaim, turning my 
face aside, and repulsing with my free hand that 
of the hocusser. ' Pardon me, I feel strength 
enough to remain awake.' 

" 'Ko, I prefer that you sleep.' 

" ' Have I then become a woman since entering 
the hospital ?' 

'"It matters not whether you be a woman or a 
Zouave ; I wish you to sleep.' 

" ' But I would rather sound the charge !' 

'"Enough of this!' he rejoined, impatient; 
'It is sleep, and not courage, that warrants 
me against an involuntary movement on your 
part, capable of compromisiag the success of the 
operation. Go to sleep !' 

"I hesitated — I was indignant at their daring to 
suspect my coolness — I blushed with shame at 
the idea of chloroform — it seemed to dishonor 
the Zouaves as a regiment; and again I was 
about to repeat the wish to be operated upon 
without chloroformization, when Sister Prudence 
whispered, 

" ' Sleep, my child, sleep !' 

"And I yielded. 

" I retain only a confused recollection of what 
passed at the time. My insensibility was not 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 89 

complete, for I felt them cutting my flesH to tlie 
quick — I felt tlie sharp, cold blade of the instru- 
ment penetrating — sometimes probing to the 
bottom, then twisting around the edges of the 
wound — but did not suffer ; there was no con- 
sciousness of pain, and my blood, which I saw 
flowing (for my eyelids were only half closed) 
seemed to me limpid and colorless as water. 
They conversed around me — ^the surgeon doubt- 
less explaining to his professional auditors his 
manner of operating — ^but I heard only a con- 
fused buzzing, amid which came to my ear a 
musical tone— the soft voice of Sister Prudence, 
repeating the cadence, 

" ' Courage, my child, courage I' 

" A pain, a horrible pain, nevertheless forcibly 
roused me, when the saw attacked the head of 
the humerus. A tug at this bone of the 
arm produces repercussion in every mem- 
ber. I started, and was about to utter a cry of 
torture, when the hand of the endormeur, still 
holding the cotton saturated with chloroform, 
stopped anew my mouth and nostrils. 

"On recovering my consciousness completely, it 
seemed to me as if awaking from a long sleep. 
I knew not where I was, and was obliged to re- 
flect and search my memory before recognizing 
my bed and the white sentry-box, beside whicli 
was seen through the half-open curtains. Sis- 



90 KEC0LLECTI0:S'3 OF A ZOUAVE. 

ter Prudence keeping watcTi, and threatening me 
with her finger as I made an effort to raise my- 
self to salute her. 

" ' It is accomplished,' said she, ' and success- 
fully ; but you must not spoil all now by inces- 
sant motion.' 

'"Thanks, Sister.' 

"And I held out to her my right arm, for the 
other was more than ever imprisoned in ban- 
dages. 

" ' Perfect immobility, silence for the first few 
days, and one-eighth of usual regimen — such is 
my regulation,' she added, ' and you observe, it 
is even more severe than before the operation. 
You will obey it, wiU you not ?' 

" ' I will. Sister, since you order it.' 

'" And then, moreover, the apprehension of 
fever arising from the wound, and attacking your 
brain — ' 

"'I do not fear it.' 

" ' The doctor does ; and therefore the agree- 
ment between us is, diet, silence, and immobility.' 

'"Yes, Sister.' 

'"And you will again, one day, see your old 
mother, and be a living proof that, by the help 
of God, the art of healing may work a miracle.' 

"I obeyed — and how could I resist Sister Pru- 
dence ? 

" Days, weeks, months rolled on, and her solici- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE, 91 

tude never rqlaxed. Slie obtained from the 
wounded of this ward what the severest military 
discipline could not effect — a look of her's tri- 
umphed over their rebellion ; one of her smiles 
recompensed their submission. 

"One morning she did not appear on the 
round — a terrible rumor among us ! There 
is restlessness and aoitation ; the nurses are i2:no- 
rant of the cause of her absence. Is she gone? 
Have thej sent her to another hospital ? Have 
they punished her for excessive indulgence? 
We must address a petition to the Superior of 
the Order to restore her to us ! 

" We remained in this cruel anxiety until the 
sister, who was to replace her, arrived at St. Mar- 
tha's. Anxiety was then changed to despair. 
Sister Prudence was ill; her devotion had 
exhausted her strength ! 

" Sadness and discouragement took possession of 
us all, and ten times through the day we sent to 
inquire concerning her. Now, the report would 
be favorable, and gaiety would circulate under 
the curtains; then again, her condition excited 
fears, and a gloomy silence reigned through the 
ward. Her absence even threatened to be fatal 
in result to some of us. There were departures 
from the rules, nurses relaxed in zeal and watch- 
fulness, and I myself experienced a change 
which did not fail to be very serious. 



92 EECOLLECnONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" Excuse me if, as apropos to it, I again recur to 
my wound and tlie operation performed. Instead 
of disjointing the arm, whose upper extremity 
had been so hacked in pieces, the head-surgeon 
of the Pera Hospital, divorcing himself from the 
routine, as he expressed it, wished to try what 
they call a resection, that is, to remove only the 
injured part of the bone, and preserve the mem- 
ber in place. 

" He had accordingly laid bare the articulation 
of the shoulder, sawed and taken out the point 
of the acromion, as well as the mortified part 
of the head of the humerus, cleansed the 
interior of the wound, drawn the skin together, 
sewed it, dressed the whole, and maintained the 
arm in a straight position beside me, hoping 
the wound would close without inflaming 
the articulation, and also hoping (as did hap- 
pen) that when healed I could still move my 
arm, and at least partially use it. It was very 
bold in him, as many sargeons have since 
told me, and he must have operated very skil- 
fully, not to irritate the neighboring organs and 
provoke mortal inflammation in the articulation. 

"The majority of celebrated operators proceed 
"differently from M. Mery (name of the head- 
surgeon of Pera); they remove both the limb 
and articulation, to avoid this inflammation, 
infallibly mortal. But this method, if the most 
radical, is also the most frequently fatal. 



EEC0LLECTI0K3 OF A ZOUAVE. 93 

" Others content themselves with extracting the 
ball that has caused the evil, enveloping the 
shoulder in permanent bandages, and so arrang- 
ing their dressings as to permit no air to pene- 
trate the interior of the wound; then, leav- 
ing dame JSTature to act, expect the perforated 
parts of the articulation to be obliterated and 
cicatrised, and thus the inflammation being 
concentrated, and also from the continued im- 
moveableness, that the arm and shoulder 
should form one, soldered together, so that 
the arm, having no longer a joint, cannot hence- 
forth be put in action above the elbow and 
wrist, which preserve their ordinary flexibility. 
This soldering of the arm and shoulder is 
denominated anhylosis ; and as they often fail of 
success in disarticulation, so is it with the ex- 
periment of ankylosis, and the wounded takes a 
definitive furlough for the abode of his fore- 
fathers. M. Mery, wishing to avoid at the same 
time the dangers of disarticulation and the in- 
convenience of ankylosis, and preserve me the 
almost complete use of my left arm, had acted 
accordingly. 

"I know not whether I explain the matter 
clearly, for a Zouave only anatomizes with sabre- 
cuts, and must pray your indulgence for this 
surgical digression. 

" The operation ended, there remained a 



94 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

very important point, tlie most important at 
issue — the healing; and the great danger to 
which this healing was liable was a sudden, 
purulent fever, one caused by reabsorption of 
the matter, which would infiltrate the veins, 
mix with the blood, and poison the wounded 
without striking a blow. Sister Prudence had 
warned me of this fever ; and, in order to avoid 
it, the surgeon had at once subjected me to the 
severest regimen. 

" All hasty motion was interdicted. I was to 
remain in bed for two months, the wounded 
shoulder placed a little lower than the sound 
one, to enable the matter to roll out voluntarily. 
I was, moreover, to guard my sensibility from 
all extraordinary excitement ; and he had en- 
joined it on the nurses to inform him instantly, 
whether night or day, if the slightest fever 
should manifest itself. Wherefore, then, so 
much solicitude, say you, for a poor Zouave 
trumpeter ? A general, an admiral, a monarch, 
or millionaire, could not inspire greater. It is 
because, soit dit en passant^ though a trumpeter, 
I was worth a little trouble ; and then, in the 
eyes of such men as M. Mery, we are all equal, 
viewed in the light of science, and as sufferers ; 
and, furthermore, the operator of Pera, regard- 
ing me henceforth as his special chef-d^oeuvre^ was 
very desirous of showing this proof of art to the 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 95 

medical world, and above all, to exhibit it living, 
not through, pride, but as an example, and a 
model to be adopted in behalf those who have 
the misfortune to receive, like me, a cylindro- 
conical ball in the shoulder. 

" As long as Sister Prudence was the guardian 
angel of the St. Martha ward, the doctor's pre- 
scriptions were scrupulously observed ; but, as 
I have told you, from the morning of her disap- 
pearance, the discipline relaxed, duties fell into 
disorder, and demoralization itself added to the 
sad change. 

"It appears that after a few days' illness, 
when the strength is well nigh exhausted, 
there ensues an excessive sensibility, which may, 
very seriously, endanger recovery. I expe- 
rienced, then, a lively emotion at the news of 
the illness of Sister Prudence, and that very 
evening, the nurse on guard warned the physi- 
cian of my having been attacked with violent 
fever. The physician hastens to my side, and 
energetically combats a pernicious return, under 
which I should, doubtless, have succumbed. 

" In a residence of two months at Pera, I had 
but that bad night. Frenzy, or rather delirium, 
commenced at sunset, and was not allayed until 
morning. The nurse has told me that I was then 
a prey to the most fantastic hallucinations. 
Sister Prudence appeared to me under divers 



96 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. . 

forms ; sometimes, adorned witli flowers, decked 
with, laces, courted and adored by a crowd of 
elegant cavaliers, and vanishing, borne off in a 
whirlwind of waltzers; sometimes, with, her 
long black robe and white coif, traversing one 
of our battle-fields, and resuscitating, with her 
foot, the bloody dead ; sometimes, illumined by 
the reflex of artillery, and gliding, by night, 
over the parapets of our trenches ; sometimes, in 
fine, hemmed in on all sides by Eussian squad- 
rons, whereon we fell with fixed bayonets, rush- 
ing to the onset, which I sounded furiously, 
together with my comrade Fritcher. Then, we 
brought her back, in triumph, to our lines, and I 
awoke, panting, and bathed in sweat, and still 
under the influence of this glorious dream, and 
demanded of the nurse a newspaper, la Presse I 
believe, wherein I had read that order of the 
day of Marshal St. Arnaud, which proclaimed 
the Zouaves the first soldiers of the world ! 

"And vain was it that the nurse assured me 
she did not possess it. I insisted ; it must be 
obtained at any price ; and I was only calmed 
when given a wrinkled fragment of printed 
paper, which I seemed to read, improvising a 
proclamation, ending with the phrase, ' The 
Zouaves are th.e first soldiers of the world' — ten, 
twenty times repeated, until, my strength spent, 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 97 

I fell into a profound sleep, still murmuring — 
' The Zouaves are the first soldiers of the world.' 
"This sleep saved me. The fever was sub- 
dued effectually ; and the next morning, I felt 
only extreme lassitude in all my members. To 
complete this good fortune. Sister Prudence, 
wishing to pass the period of her convalescence 
amid her dear wounded, was restored to us." 



98 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEE y. 

THE SISTERS OF CHAKITY. — SAILOR. — GODFATHER. — 
SCHTSGHEGOLEFFS. 

" What are we in hospital ? A number, 
and nothing more, whicb. others have borne 
before us, and others will again bear, when 
recovery or death evacuates the beds. 

" This number is substituted for the family 
name, the sweet. Christian name of man's in- 
fancy; the surgeon, nurses, neighbors, know 
you by no other. The Sister alone protests, by 
an injunction to us not to forget who we are ; 
but for her, the cypher would entirely replace 
the patronymic. 

" What can be more cold, sad, and distressing, 
than to hear ^aid around you — 

" ' No. 7 is very low.' 

" * 10 is delirious.' 

" ' 13 is dead.' 

" And this 13, 10, 7 is Pierre, Jean, Francois, 
our old associates, friends, comrades of the same 
platoon, the same regiment, who have stood side 
by side with us at exercise and combat, and who 
die near us, without their names to awake a re- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 99 

membrance and permit us to say, ' Adieu, until 
we meet again on liigTi !' 

" It was in calling us as did our mother, tliat 
tlie Sister won our love and obedience. 

"I have often beard here, certain questions 
discussed relative to tbe Sisters of Charity. I 
said nothing in my subaltern station ; but I 
listened to the occasional arguments of officers, 
and inclined to the side of those which recalled 
the devotedness of Sister Prudence. 

" ' The Sister of Charity, the consoling angel of 
Hospitals, is only possible in Catholicism,' says 
one. 

" ' But have not the English Protestants also 
their Sisters of Charity ?' replied another. 

" ' No, no ; our religion can alone inspire such 
devotion.' 

'"What then is Miss Nightingale, and the 
women who accompany her ?' 

" ' They copy our Sisters.' 

" ' Possibly ; but the copies so well represent 
the models, that but for difference of costume, 
one could not be distinguished from the other : 
English and French, Catholics and Protestants, 
Religieuse and Secular, all are equally devoted, 
equally admirable !' 

" ' A mistake ! a mistake ! Not only do I 
limit our Sisters of Charity exclusively to Catho- 
licism, but I should even regard their mission 



100 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

as impossible or inefficacious, if tbey were not 
sabjected to tbe rules of a religious community.' 

'".All ! but that is a strong assertion ! What! 
a woman can never give proof of self-sacrifice 
and devotion bj virtue of her own free-will, and 
prompted by the feelings of her heart? It 
requires to be affiliated to a community to be 
able to practise charity ! These communities 
are rather ambitious ! Go ask the English then 
who emerge from the hospitals, what they think 
of their saintly nurses, now that the medical 
service is organized among them as in ours, and 
see if those who escape death do not bless Miss 
Nightingale's straw hat and green veil, as we do 
the large coif and white wimple of Sister 
Prudence.' 

" ' As for my part,' says one near, ' I am of 

Beranger's opinion. I believe 

" Tears can be dried by one 
'Neath martyr's crown, 
Or coronal of flowers " 

" The champion of Catholicism replied to this, 
citation of our own ballad-poet by certain 
phrases borrowed from a pamphlet in circu- 
lation, styled, Sistoire 'po'pulaire de la guerre 
cf Orient^ by Abbe Millois. 

" This Abbe, speaking of the English ladies, 
come to the East to nurse the wounded of their 
nation, acknowledges that they are animated by 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 101 

desire of rivalling our Catholic Sisters, but 
affirms tliat they can never equal them. ' Never,' 
says M. Mullois, ' never can Protestant England, 
with her gold, her science, institutions or indus- 
try, create an humble daughter of St. Vincent 
de Paul ; and may that union in charity be the 
means of restoring Protestant England to the 
unity of the one faith.' 

" ' Good heavens ! what then 1' cries the oppo- 
nent of the Catholic : ' what then is that thing 
called charity, if possible only to adepts of a 
sinsfle communion ?' 

" For myself, the Zouave trumpeter, the resus- 
citated invalid of the St. Martha-ward, I should 
have wholly coincided with the partizans of 
religious communities, if listening only to my 
gratitude towards Sister Prudence ; but this 
would be unjust, for a thousand times have I 
heard blessings invoked on the devotion of the 
English ladies in the field-hospitals, and those 
of Yarna, Scutari and the Archipelago. 

" Nothing can be more true than the sketches 
published by the London Illustrated News^ where 
Miss Nightingale is seen ascending on horseback 
the mountain steeps of Balaklava, at whose 
summit a hospital is installed within the old 
Genoese fortress. Hamals, heavily laden, fol- 
low the noble Lady of charity, conveying re- 
freshments she was going to distribute among 



102, EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the sick and wounded, togetlier witli gentle 
words of comfort. 

"It is in vain, therefore, to deny the existence 
of devotedness outside the Catholic religion. 
Facts stand out in bold relief, and put aside 
exclusive opinions, while we as soldiers bless 
them all, those holy Sisters of Charity, what- 
ever be the form or color of their robe. 

" But in speaking of the charity-woman, I 
forget the charity-man — I forget our Almoners. 

" Blessings on them, also ! 

" On the battle-field, at the hospital, by day 
and by night, under the tent, or in the trench, 
bending beside the ear of the dying, and raising 
the courage of those who may survive, or must 
sink under their wounds. Nor do they forget 
those sent far away for convalescence. They 
have prayers for the rich, and succor for the 
poor. As witness, I, your speaker, have re- 
ceived, last week, a letter from the Almoner of 
our division, still before Sebastopol. He was 
aware of my having departed for Constantinople 
after leaving the hospital at Inkermann, and I 
had written him of my awaiting there my sick 
furlough. I solicited nothing of him in my 
letter, but simply recalled myself to his pious 
recollection, and promised him that in happiness 
as in sorrow, in prosperity as in adversity, never 
should I forget his words. Well, he thought he 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 103 

could divine in the expressions of my letter that 
I was in destitution, which was not the case, 
that I needed succor, likewise an error, for I lack 
nothing, neither money nor friends. Ah, said 
I, on opening his letter, his benevolent heart is 
mistaken, for there I found — what ? imagine ! 
a sight draft of thirty francs on the paymaster 
of the army ! Thirty francs which he had 
deducted for me out of his allowance of 
divisionary Cure ! 

"Ah, tears came to my eyes on seeing this 
order and reading that letter. The letter I 
devoutly kissed, and the order I shall give to the 
first soldier I encounter, poorer than myself, on 
landing at Marseilles. The end shall be fulfilled. 
" I would tell you the name of this good priest, 
if in mentioning it I did not fear to infringe 
upon his wishes, for he is one of those who exact 
secrecy between the hand that gives and the one 
that receives. 

"But, ma foil I cannot conceal it ; I wish it to 
be known. It is he who, having had his horse 
killed under him at the battle of Alma, had 
remonnted another, attached to a cannon, in 
order to arrive more quickly in the midst of his 
children, whom the Eussian grape-shot was deci- 
mating — it is Abbe Parabere ! 

" Next to the exhaustless charity of our good 
sisters and almoners, comes that of mother- 



104 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

country. Thej tell us, that in France the peo- 
ple, rich and poor, noble and humble, compassion- 
ate our sufferings. They say the provinces, towns 
and hamlets are assessed for the relief of our 
necessities, and that gives us courage — not 
courage to attack the enemy, for that kind of 
courage we never lacked, but courage to bear 
cheerfully the rigors of the season. 

" When Sister Prudence returned to St. Mar- 
tha's, peace and almost happiness came in her 
train, and the healing of the wounded progressed 
rapidly. I was at length able to rise, after having 
been fifty-two days on duty in bed. As there 
were no longer any but convalescents in our ward 
(those with fever, or attacked with internal 
maladies, occupied another part of the building), 
we conceived a desire to smoke, and requested 
permission of the sister. 

"Military regulations are less severe in Turkey 
than in France. In Turkey, the use of tobacco 
is more than a habitude, it is a necessity. The 
sister therefore tolerated the groups of smokers 
at the window-embrazures, the more that we 
thus purified the atmosphere, charged with pu- 
trid miasma hovering around the large burying- 
ground. 

"'Smoke, boys, and smoke lustily,' said a 
wounded sailor to us, ' and you will no longer 
swallow that stench which the breeze brings 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 105 

US from amidst the tall cypresses you see down 
there, forming a line like a higli wall painted 
green." 

" 'The fact is, that at times, this does bite our 
nose rather rudely,' exclaimed some among us. 
* It certainly does not proceed from a perfumery 
shop.' 

" ' It reminds me of my whale-fishing expedi- 
tion,' rejoined the sailor. 'When we passed 
within ten miles to leeward of a dead and de- 
cayed whale, we could define his position with- 
out seeing it. But we had there an advantage 
denied us here ; we could repel the bouquet by 
firing two or three good broadsides; but now 
we are condemned to snuff it without reprieve.' 

"'The Mussulmen do not complain of it. 
That extensive burying-ground serves them as 
Champs Ely sees,' says a wit. 

" ' I have seen this burying-ground, and 
walked through it in returning from Adriano- 
ple,' replies a hussar. ' It is a veritable planta- 
tion of stone poles, or, if you prefer the term, 
one immense game of skittles ; there is a land- 
mark at the head of each tomb, which landmark 
is crowned with a turban in shape of a cante- 
loup.' 

'"That should be very fine, but what a 
stench ! Pere Lachaise is not so bad,' objects a 
Parisian. 



106 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



<( < 



Yerj probably tbe Pagans decay faster 
tban Cbristians,' judiciously remarks a young 
foot soldier. 

" ' Away witb you, simpletons,' resumed tbe 
sailor ; ' do you not know then, wby the ceme- 
teries of these countries thus infect the air for 
a hundred miles to windward ?' 

^"Why?' 

" 'Because they have a peculiar manner of 
their own, a very particular talent for interring 
the defunct.' 

" ' How is it then ?' 

" ' Ah, if I tell you, you will understand it as 
well as I.' 

" ' Speak, speak, Master Taillevent.' 

Such was the sailor's name. 

" ' Smoke, lads, smoke away,' replied the 
sailor ; ' as long as you smoke, there will be no 
danger. If the plague should steer toward you, 
it will then have to sail against the wind, and 
fall to leeward.' 

" ' But we are smoking as hard as possible.' 

" ' Well, all the better, for it is indispensable 
in this charming country. I have told you, 
then, that they have an especial tact for stowing 
the defunct in this ancient hold called earth, and 
where we all have our place numbered in 
advance, except those who, like me, are by 
profession exposed to be diluted in salt water. 



EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 107 

" ' Wlien an Osmanlite has spun out Ms cable, 
instead of baling bim as we do, into a package, 
wbicb M. le Cure charges bimself with conduct- 
ing to its destination, they wash the face of the 
aforesaid, hrick him clean, pitch his standing and 
running tackle, then apparelled in hiB most 
costly habiliments, face uncovered, and turned 
towards heaven, they transport him on a litter 
to the great Cypress Cemetery. There they 
lower him to the bottom of the pit prepared for 
him ; then the grave-diggers, instead of throw- 
ing loose earth with a spade, like Christians, 
these grave-diggers, understand, build above 
and around his head, a small shed, whose roof 
isolates his face from contact with the earth 
which covers the rest of the body. Nor is this 
all yet ; they contrive a dormer-window to that 
roof, and this window communicates without by 
means of a canal in shape of a stove-pipe laid 
under the earth.' 

" ' But to what good is this system ?' we 
demanded. 

" ' Ah, that is the question ! If you are curious 
go ask the true believers.' 

" ' You know it as well as they.' 

" ' Possibly, but you would not take my 
testimony.' 

" * We will believe you, Father Taillevent.' 



108 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" 'Possible again; but you would be wrong, 
for I am not paid to tell you tbe trutb." 

" ' Tell, tell !' 

" ' Eh, well, tbis conduit serves for a windsail 
to disinfect tbe habitation of the dead at the 
expense of the living.' 

" ' Is that all ?' 

" 'No ; they say that the soul of the defunct 
flies through this window.' 

" ' Any more ?' 

" ' Yes ; the friends, relatives and ladies of 
the departed transmit them by means of this 
speaking-trumpet, their sobs, groanings and 
farewells.' 

" ' Eeally, this is not so bad an invention,' 
said the young foot-soldier ; ' the defunct may 
give intelligence of what passes below or above. 

" ' Simple boy I' disdainfully replied the sailor, 
who made great pretensions to be a good spokes- 
man : ' simple boy ! You do not know then, 
that the inconveniences of this mode of inhuma- 
tion counterbalances many of its advantages. 
The exhalations arising from all these dead in 
a state of putrefaction, escapes through the 
chimneys of the tombs, and engenders plague. 
Therefore, smoke hard, my children, to banish 
the plague.' 

" This same old tar was the most intrepid 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 109 

story-teller of our ward, and lie never joined in 
the conversation without adding a yarn. 

"He was guilty of frequent repetition, but 
also had the adroitness to originate something 
new, if at the commencement of his narrative 
they cried out, 

" ' Known already ! Known !' 

" While we were all smoking together, an 
infantry soldier complained of violent toothache, 
and one of us, very naturally replied to him, 
' Go, have it extracted." 

" 'And if so, trust your jawbone to the Doctor 
of the GaferelliJ said the old sailor, Father 
Taillevent. 

" ' Wherefore to the Doctor of the Gaferelli^ 
rather than another ?' demanded the soldier. 

' " It is he who has the firm wrist. Figure to 
yourselves, lads, ' 



(( ( 



Listen ! even a history apropos to a tooth !' 
said some one of the smokers. 

" He heard this remark, and stopped short. 
" ' Well,' rejoined I, ' what is it we are to 
figure to ourselves. Master Taillevent ?' 
" ' Whatever you please, comrade.' 
But you commenced to tell us — ' 
I have commenced nothing. I shall not 
continue, seeing that it ruffles these gentlemen.' 
" And he indicated by a sign those who had 
interrupted the beginning of his story. 






110 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 



li i. 



All, no ! Fatlier Taillevent, no !' cried they, 
' we did not design to interrupt yon. We only 
said, attention ! attention 1 lo, a history about a 
tooth. ! No, no, Father Taillevent, do not rob us 
of the story.' 

" ' You advised me first to seek the Doctor of 
the CaferelUj'' said the foot-soldier with the 
aching-tooth. 

' ' ' And added that he had a firm wrist,' 
repeated another. 

"'And commenced thus, "Figure to your- 
selves, lads." ' 

" Sensible to the excuses of his interrupters, 
and flattered by the soldier's soliciting his 
advice, and also by their re-calling the first 
words of his narrative so abruptly suspended, 
Master Taillevant majestically recomnienced. 

" ' Figure to yourselves, lads, that I was 
suffering with a violent toothache, like Monsieur 
here, and had employed every known remedy 
to lull the pain, till obliged to have recourse to 
cold steel. I was then upon the CaferelU, and 
this rascal of a tooth chose the exact moment 
to torment me when the Caferelli fired her four 
broadsides on Fort Constantine. It was at day- 
break, and we had already tacked to put to sea ; 
the Doctor had left his post of duty, and re- 
entered his cabin, when I approached him, say- 
ing, " Doctor, relieve me." 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. Ill 

" ' Come liitlier,' lie replied. 

*' * I followed him, and now behold me in liis 
cabin, seated on a stool opposite the port-light. 
I open my mouth, and he is about to lance the 
aforesaid tooth with his instrument, when sud- 
denly the discharge of a hundred pieces of 
cannon resounded, — Fort Constantine giving u.s 
a salute. 

" ' Do not stir,' said the Doctor, without 
moving or being shaken by the trembling of the 
floor beneath him. 

" ' I could make no reply, for the instrument 
held me gagged, but I did not flinch either, and 
my head, immoveably erect, resisted the shock 
of the tourniquet as he grasps the tooth ; crack ! 
and out it jumps — but just at that moment, a 
terrible bang strikes the side of the ship, and we 
find ourselves plunged in profound darkness — 
the light-port is closed up. 

" ' What means this eclipse of the rising sun ? 
We could not divine. 

" 'Your tooth is out," says the Doctor. 

" ' Together with daylight,' I replied, ' that too 
has jumped out of the cabin.' 

" ' Well, old Taillevent, here are two suc- 
cessful operations.' 

" ' One, at least.' 

No, two. Give me your hand.' 



U ( 



112 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

"'I obeyed, and putting my liand where the 
port-light had been, he said, 

" ' What do you find there ?' 

" ' Major, I find a cannon ball choking np the 
opening." 

" ' Ah, and think you the gunner of Fort 
Constantine, who aimed this shot, may not pro- 
nounce his operation skilful as mine ?' 

Another tar, a jolly fellow, wounded, to use 
his own words, in his upper worJcs^ in his head 
as I should say, by a ball, which, very fortun- 
ately, only ploughed the skin across his brow, 
and the roots of his hair, sparing his brainbox — 
this sailor distributed among us fifty cigars 
which he pretended to have gained from a 
Kussian prize in the Baltic. 

" ' Are they not good, these sehtsgeloffs f he 
exclaimed. ' Ah, if I only possessed a cargo 
what a chance for me.' 

"It must be confessed, that these rascally 
Bussians know the road from Havana as well 
as we. 

" Smoke away, lads, smoke the schtschegoleffs ; 
no possibility of plague with them, as the com- 
rade tells you. 

" 'Mate, does not schtschegoloffs^ in Eussian, sig- 
mf J flageolet f 

The tar regarded with a jeering air, him who 
timidly hazarded that question. He was a young 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 11 



Q 



fus^leer of the line, Ms right arm amputated, and 
whose downy moustaches were just appearing. 
General Canrobert had decorated him with a 
military medal for the exploit of spitting, one 
after the other, with the bayonet, four Eus- 
sians, desirous one night to relieve guard with 
him before our trenches. 

" We have many of these slender, puny looking 
individuals in the army, with timid physiog- 
nomy ; they might pass for demoiselles in mad- 
der-coloured pantaloons, who could not question 
a man without blushing a foot deep; but with 
rifles in hand they become lions, killing and over- 
turning all before them. 

" Such was he who thus demanded the significa- 
tion of this word, schtschegoleffs. 

" ' Ah, well, yes, flageolet or pipe,' replied the 
sailor. 'There was no flageolets at Bomarsund 
young man, and the schtschegoleffs came from 
thence. 

" ' And how.' ' 

" ' As you are about to learn,' and the sailor 
recounted ; " while you were landing at Eupa- 
toria last year, boys, I was one of those who 
worked on the coasts of Nicholas, the shores 
of the Baltic you understand, a famous sea that 
Baltic, and strong as the Black after another 
fashion, since you can walk on it with dry feet 
during six months of the year. I was accordingly, 



114 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

then, marine gunner of tlie first class on the 
Yulcan, a steamer, the best rigged, pitched 
and mounted of the whole Percival fleet. An 
assertion which should not astonish you, since, 
out of a crew of 800 men, there were 299 of my 
calibre. Since then the Vulcan has gone into 
winter quarters in the Black Sea, and transferred, 
to the Commander-in-chief of the land forces, her 
best gunners. I am you know of the number, 
and you also know that it was in pointing a 
cannon of our battery from Bourdonnaye, that 
I received in my scalp, the ball which has pro- 
cured me the advantage of being here conjointly 
with yourselves. 

" ' But this by way of digression — let us steer 
again for Bomarsund, which the Vulcan attacks 
among the first of the fleet. Bomarsund bom- 
barded, shambarded, crushed and levelled, it 
remained now to prevent the Kussians from 
coming to reconstruct it when the fleet should 
depart. The Vulcan, with a view to this obstruc- 
tion, continued, cruising in these latitudes, with 
orders to man what ever should dare put to sea 
from the ports of his Majesty Nicholas; and 
Heaven knows how many boats, sloops, brigs, 
three-masts, we, and our English allies, have 
manned. 

" They say that at the end of the campaign, 
every sailor belonging to the allied fleets will re- 



EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 115 

ceive, as his share of the prize-money, enough 
hard piastres to buy a chateau. I shall most 
surely have one, and I invite you all to 
dine, if between now and then we do not 
swallow our gaff. Ah, you laugh, because you 
do not understand my ship-lingo, it is not sur- 
prising for cahillots ; without offence be it said. 
To swallow one's gaff signifies among us to die. 
And in effect I defy any one, however robust, to 
swallow without instantly choking, the pike, iron 
hook, and wooden handle six feet in length, of a 
gaff; an instrument used to guard our ship-boats 
from running foul of another craft. 

" ' As to the qualification of cahillots, given by the 
mathurins of the fleet to foot soldiers of the line, 
they should feel themselves honored by the 
title. Cahillots are pieces of wood, or of iron 
planted in rows of holes on the drift rails of a 
ship; we moor there our halyards, sheet sails, 
tackle, all our rope-ends, in fine ; and whether 
there be a favourable wind or a gale, thanks to 
cahillots,^ which stand fast, the ship always per- 
forms her movements well. 

" ' And are you not cahillots too, you of the 
infantry, who, slackening no more under Russian 
grape-shot than on a grand review-day, always 
serve as a falcrum to the manoeuvres of your 



* Foggels. 



116 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

generals ? I do not, tlierefore, insnlt you by 
treating you as cabillots, and take the liberty of 
inviting you to dine at my cbateau, if, between 
now and then, we swallow not our gaff. Mean- 
while, let us puff away at our schtschegoleffs.^ 

'"I told you, then, that we did not play a losing 
game at manning the Eussian and Finlandese 
boats. One morning the long-boat of the Yul- 
carij handled by the shrewdest of the crew, 
myself of the number, gave hard chase to a cut- 
ter making for the port of Seaborg. The cutter 
veered like a sea-gull, but the long-boat veered 
like a couple, and so successfully, that an hour 
after, she said to the cutter, 'you enter not 
there.' Then, as the crew of the cutter seemed 
fatigued, we invited them to refreshments on 
board the Vulcan, 

" ' This prize would have created no greater 
sensation among us, than those taken daily, 
but for a particular circumstance. This rafian 
from Cronstadt, was conveying to Seaborg, an 
aid-de-camp of a commander-in-chief, bearer 
of important dispatches. In examining these, 
there was found a letter from the Glrand Duke 
Constantine, the Eussian Admiral, addressed 
to the Governor of Seaborg. The grand duke 
announced to him that the artillerymen of 
the town of Odessa had gained a great victory 
over the French and English fleets, and ordered 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAyE. 117 

Mm to celebrate tliis victory, sending as a 
present to be distributed at the staff-office of 
the place, several thousands of sclitschegoleffs^ 

" ' What a hoax !' exclaimed the commander 
of the Vulcan^ reading the dispatches on the 
ladder leading to the cabin of the forward deck. 

"'Do you believe a word of all this, old 
Ponentais,' he added, doing me the honor of 
addressing the question to me, as I passed to 
the leeward of him, to fulfil my two hours turn 
at the helm. 

" ' Commander,' replied I, so struck by the 
confidence he manifested in me, as to be obliged 
to swallow my quid, ' commander, you are 
right.' Yes, there is not a doubt of it, comrades, 
as you will see. 

"He then interrogated the Eussian officer, 
in command of the cutter; who at first replied, 
' nixe comjprendre^^ then at length acknowledged 
that he understood French as well as I; our 
commander turned him on all sides, tacking sail 
ten different times, (I heard every word, while 
steering north-east and east by north,) and con- 
cluded the cross-examination by asking the 
definition of schtschegoleffs. 

"It appeared that the captive aid-de-camp 
informed him; for. no sooner was there a re- 
sponse to that aforesaid question, than the mate 



118 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

whistled, ' All liands aloft !' and tlie crew of tlie 
Yulcaa crowd around tlie engine-cliimne}^ 

" Then said our commander to us, ' lads, here 
are dispatches from the Grand Admiral of the 
Kussian navj, which announce that the French 
and English fleets have gotten a dipping in the 
waters of Odessa, situated between 46° 55° 
north latitude, and 28° 50' longitude, east from 
the meridian of the Paris Observatory. Do you 
believe this ?' 

"As I remained at the helm, and the com- 
mander, in speaking, had his back towards me, 
I could, without his perceiving it, make a signal 
with my hand to the crew that it was a hoax, 
and they all replied, ' No, no.' 

" ' These same dispatches of the Kussian High 
Admiral,' continued the commander, 'pretend 
that a man named schtschegoleffs, (and he had 
dif&culty in pronouncing this barbarous appella- 
tion, which habit alone has rendered familiar to 
me,) an artillery-officer of the grade styled cornet, 
has been the main-spring that has silenced the 
firing of the fleets bombarding the town, and 
has so disabled our ships, that they were com- 
pelled to sheer off and put out to sea in a shat- 
tered condition. Do you believe it, lads ?' 

" ' Ko, no !' again responded the crew. 

" ' And the dispatches add, that order is issued 
to celebrate throughout the Kussian empire, the 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 119 

victory of this Monsieur Schtschegoleffs, and to 
immortalize tliis monsieur, they have given his 
name to the best Havana cigars, which the 
Enssians still keep in store, for they will not 
procure any more fresh cargoes as long as we 
are on the lookout in these latitudes.' 

" ' At St. Petersburg, Moscow, Cronstadt, every- 
where, at Court, in the city, among boyards and 
vassals, they smoke these schtschegoleffs in honor 
of this pretended victory of Odessa,* and the 
cutter you have just manned is freighted with 
those cigars, destined to the flambards of Sea- 
borg, who dare not come out to smoke them in 
the broad sea two scovel-lengths from the car- 
ronades of the Vulcan.^ 

" ' Good ! we will smoke their triumph-cigars 
for them.' 

" ' Lieutenant, in an emergency, let the Eus- 
sian cigars be shared by the whole crew, and 
vive la France^ 

" ' Yive la France r respond the crew. 

" ' And thus was it, my lads, that I now pos- 
sess the schtschegoleffs in my bag.' 

" ' The Vulcan returned to Cherbourg at the 
commencement of winter, and from thence was 
sent to the Black Sea. The excise at Cherbourg 
not allowing the remaining cigars on board to 

* Historic, 



120 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

be landed, tliey were necessarily distributed for 
consumption, at wbicli I now feel considerable 
gratification, since it enables me to offer you 
some of tbem.' 

'"I Lave beard it said by a limb of tbe law, 
that tbe commander of tbe Vulcan bad tran- 
scended bis autbority in dividing tbe cigars 
among us, and tbat it was bis duty to bave con- 
signed tbem to a port of war, to be distributed 
among tbe entire fleet, according to tbe decisions 
of tbe prize-tribunal.' 

" 'But I reminded tbis babbler, tbat tbe com- 
mander of tbe Vulcan bad said to tbe lieutenant, 
let tbem sbare tbe Eussian cigars in an emer- 
gency. JSTow, tbis word emergency^ signifies tbat 
tbe allowance of tobacco in tbe canteen aboard 
is eitber exbausted or in a damaged condition, 
and tbe distribution of tobacco being among tbe 
regulations, it was lawful, in conformity witb 
tbese rules, to take it wbenever and wberesoever 
it cbanced to be found.' 

" ' Come, smoke away at tbe schtschegoleffsJ 

" Tbe yarn of tbe sailor and bis cigars tended 
mucb to beguile tbe bours, and it was witb de- 
ligbt tbat I passed tbe afternoon of tbat day, 
seated near a window from wbence I could per- 
ceive a valley tipped witb red roofs intermin- 
gled witb tufts of trees ; and from tbe calm tbat 
reigned in tbis medley of bouses tapering 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 121 

np the hill, overlooked by the hospital, I could 
scarcely believe myself in a town of more than 
a million in population, but rather seated on the 
heights of a village in France ; especially, if the 
spire of the parish church had appeared, instead 
of minarets of mosques shooting slender and 
pointed towards heaven, and resembling veritable 
tooth-picks. My wound healed, from day to 
day ; and so too vanished the apprehension of 
return of the dangerous fever, and the surgeon 
allowed me to hope, that towards the end of the 
month, I might be sent to France, either to the 
regimental depot or on sick leave until my dis- 
charge as an invalid, for that I must relinquish 
all idea of the military profession henceforth. 

" It seemed to me, that with time, my shoul- 
der, though mutilated, would recover sufficient 
strength to permit me to continue a profession, 
embraced with such enthusiasm. 

" If it was illusion, I can say that illusion still 
endures. When I stretch out this meagre and 
almost withered left arm, and compare its flabby, 
wrinkled epidermis with the smooth, solid mus- 
cles of my other, I say to myself that the same 
life, the same blood still flows in their vessels, 
and that by the aid of time and of Almighty 
God, I shall recover my two iron wrists. The 
occupants of Saint Martha Ward changed from 
time to time. 



122 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" To those of tliem wlio left for France as inva- 
lids, or on temporary leave, pious missions were 
entrusted, always warmly accepted, but as I have 
since known by experience, rarely fulfilled. 

" Of those arriving from the Crimean hospitals, 
tidings were demanded of friends and old com- 
panions in the trenches ; and the Army Chroni- 
cle and gossip long furnished food for conver- 
sation. 

" I have remarked that there are two different 
kinds of sorrow felt on learning the death of a 
comrade ; — if he has been carried off by a bullet 
or killed in repulsing a Eussian sortie, his death 
is but little accounted of, it produces not more 
regret than if he were absent at a night roll-call, 
having gone into the town to sleep. -^ ^ * -^ * 
Is it not natural that a soldier die a soldier's 
death ? 

" But, when they told us that the cholera, which 
now and then breaks out, has forced him to throw 
down arms and baggage, and that he has not 
been buried in that great common grave which 
our corvees dig and fill after the combat. * * * * 
Oh ! then, we have a sigh — a tear of adieu for 
him, and dread for ourselves the sufferings that 
attend the last hour. 



BECOLLECTION'S OF A ZOUAVE. 123 



CHAPTEE YL 

COBPOEAL GENTY.— POLONESE COLONEL. — THE TRAITOK. — THE 
rOURBI. — STAR OF THE BAZAAR. 

"Zouaves of the first regiment, the greater 
number wounded from sabre-cuts, proving that 
they had rubbed close to the Eussians, arrive at 
the hospital, and give us news of our scouts. 

" Genty, the celebrated Genty, known to the 
whole army, had been made prisoner in Sebas- 
topol itself, and had there died of his wounds. 
General Canrobert, it was said, offered a Eussian 
colonel in exchange for him ; Osten Saken re- 
fused. 

" He was the bravest of the brave, this Cor- 
poral Genty ! His life had become a legend in 
our camps; the Eussians themselves glorified 
his valor, and deserters recount that they have 
erected a monument to him on one of the 
squares of the town. 

" I remember, a few days before receiving the 
ball which has mutilated my shoulder, I, one, 
evening, encountered Genty, crossing our post 
■ at the trenches ; he was minus a piece of his 
hood, the border of which seemed to have been 
slit by a sabre. 



124 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' Ho, there, comrade !' said I to him ; ' wliat 
scent are you upon here ?' 

" ' Two or three innocent jackals^ he replied ; 
' I have managed to hatch a magnificent brood 
(fourbi) for the night.' 

" We understand by making 2i fourbi^ not steal- 
ing but procuring, with more or less skill, bold- 
ness, and cunning, what we need ; and our friend 
of the hood is the cache-fourhi.^ 

' ' Accordingly, from Adrianople to Aidos, the 
most populous of the Provinces we traversed 
from Gallipoli to Yarna, how the pullets thus 
foraged for supper, augmented our meagre com- 
mons ! So much the worse for the scout if he 
allowed himself to be taken ! He was then 
found guilty, de facto, and severely punished. 

" The officers shut their eyes to these irregu- 
larities, which, moreover, are only practiced in 
an enemy's country, or one not friendly to our 
nation. 

"In France, 2. fourbi would be a robbery, and 
the soldier abstains from such practices; in a 
country really friendly, and in alliance, he ab- 
stains even more scrupulously. 

" But in the midst of such wavering popula- 
tions as these, rather malevolent than sympa- 
thizing, the Greeks of Eomelia, for instance, it 

* Secret forager. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 125 

is very difficult for an armed force to make 
progress on rations, without beating the bushes 
in the hamlets and among the farm-houses 
nearest the strategic route. 

" This fourhi of ours was born in Africa — a 
true Razzia. 

" For the first days of our arrival in the 
Crimea, we practiced it on a large scale; and 
the country-houses of the rich Boyards, and the 
farms along the road from Alma to Inkermann, 
and on the heights of Chersonesus, were soon 
rifled. 

"It was fair game, and still would be; but 
the harvest is all gleaned. 

" At one time, we were obliged to cross that 
little winding river Tchernaye, which rolls its 
limpid waters over a bed of white pebbles, 
where only wild ducks are permitted to quench 
their thirst in peace, and push forward to a pro- 
montory beside the celebrated valley of Baidar. 
To attempt any exploit there, was to run immi- 
nent risk of falling into the hands of the Eus- 
sians; or, what is far worse even, of being 
among the missing at morning roll-call, and pro- 
nounced a deserter. 

" That part of the environs of Sebastopol bor- 
dering upon the battery of the Jardins and the 
port, not far from Kedan and the Malakoff 
tower, was, then, the only place worth the 



126 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. " 

trouble of being visited bj our intrepid ma- 
rauders. 

u There it was tbat Genty wished to conduct 
me, to try my fortune. 

" Genty, an old African Zouave, whom Can- 
robert bad noticed since Zaatcba, and valued 
highly, was, in a measure, unrestricted in his 
movements. He belonged to the Second regi- 
ment of Zouaves, as corporal, but a corporal at 
large, attached to a choice band of sharp-shoot- 
ers, and enjoying the entire confidence of the 
lieutenant in command of the same. He roved 
incessantly outside our parallels, to reconnoitre 
the breaches and weak places in the fortifica- 
tions of the town ; and, according to his reports, 
would our scouts steer their course by night, 
and our artillery modify its aims. 

" Towards sunset, he liked to saunter about 
the encampments, recounting his adventures of 
the night before, and seek to recruit his forces 
for the coming one. He was well known 
throughout the line, and it was a joyous festival 
as soon as he appeared ; they showered ques- 
tions upon him, and he always responded gaily. 

"Poor Genty! I could not think of him as 
dead! When I left the Crimea, they were 
talking of his cross of honor, which General 
Canrobert had not yet given him, in order that 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 127 

the Emperor himself should decorate him with 
his own hand. 

" At that epoch, there was a rumor of the 
Emperor Napoleoa's coming to the Crimea. 

*' The proposal of making exchange of a Kus- 
sian colonel for Grenty, as well as the erection of 
a monument in honor of him on one of the 
squares of Sebastopol, with this inscription, 

TO THE BRAVEST OF THE FRENCH ! 

BY HIS ENEMIES, 

ADMIRERS OF HIS COURAGE ! 

I think is no more than a trooper's tale, but if 
actually true, nothing can be better merited. 

"The French journals, some months since, 
recount an episode in a night adventu.re of this 
hero. 

" Genty, having penetrated within one of the 
faubourgs of Sebastopol, at the head of a dozen 
Zouaves, dismisses his companions, and deceived 
by the darkness, accosts a Russian sentinel. 

" Thinking himself in proximity to a French- 
man, he gives the preconcerted signal, by striking 
three quick strokes on the rifle, and saying, 
jackal. 

" The Russian repeats the signal ; Genty, sur- 
prised and uncertain, hesitates; he knows not 
whether to advance or recoil, and suddenly finds 



128 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

himself surrounded by twenty of the enemy, 
commanded by a sergeant. His coolness returns 
in the face of danger ; he fires, crosses bayonets, 
and cries out, ' Help ! Zouaves !' 

" The Kussians, never imagining that a single 
man would thus dare to resist them, and fearing 
that he was supported by a large troop of 
French, took to flight. 

" The sergeant, braver than the rest, rushed 
upon Genty and aimed a thrust at him, but 
missed, and his bayonet was broken against a 
rock, behind which, Genty had shielded him- 
self: Genty then clutches, first the barrel of the 
sergeant's rifle, then, the sergeant himself, and 
holding so fast by the collar as almost to strangle 
him, leads him, at quick pace towards the 
trenches, near which, he re-encounters his com- 
rades, very anxious for his fate. 

" I have told you that the lower part of his 
foraging-hood appeared lopped by a sabre-cut. 
The operation dated only from the night pre- 
vious to the day on which he proposed to me to 
go on an expedition with him. He had found 
himself beard to beard with a Eussian platoon, 
in a branch of a trench near Kedan, and having 
nothing to rely upon for escape but his agility ; 
one of them already held him by the hood, and 
the sabre-thrust which another launched at the 
nape of his neck set him at liberty by falling on 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 129 

the hood, wliioli it very fortunately severed 
into two parts. 

" Genty sometimes disguised himself as a Rus- 
sian, in order to penetrate farther within the 
outworks of the besieged. 

" One night, as muffled in a large Muscovite 
capote, on his head a flat cap without a vizor, he 
prowled on his hands and knees across the 
Mamelon Yert, with a view to explore the train 
of the infernal machines, he sees, beside him, 
crawling like himself, a scout, whose Zouave 
uniform he recognizes by the gleams of a Ben- 
gal sky-rocket, which, just at this moment, 
springs from the summit of the Malakoff. 

" His first idea was, that the Zouave is about 
to rush upon him, supposing him a Russian, and 
he was preparing to make himself known by 
the sacramental word, jackal^ when the Zouave 
stopped short, turned and sitting at ease, and 
profiting by a last ray of the Bengal-rocket, sent 
him a friendly signal. 

" Scum of the earth, thought Genty, who 
would ever have supposed that a Zouave could 
desert ! Wait, rascal, and I will bring you back 
to the path of duty. 

" And slinging his carbine in his bandoher, he 
bounded towards the deserter, seized him with 
one hand by the breast of his shirt, and with the 



130 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

other, touclied his side witli the point of his 
bayonet. 

" ' Follow me, or I will rip you open,' said he, 
lowering his voice as much as possible for fear 
of rousing the sentinels of the enemy's outposts, 
whom he heard walking a few steps from him. 

"But the pretended Zouave, instead of defend- 
ing himself, began to laugh, slapping the false 
Eussian on the shoulder, and chattering a 
phrase of Muscovite Charabia. 

"Genty, then comprehending his situation, 
overturns the Muscovite, claps one hand on his 
mouth to prevent his calling for help, kneels 
upon his breast with both knees, unrolls his belt, 
gags him with it, disarms him, obliges him to 
rise, and with the aid of his bayonet performing 
the function of a goad to his loins, brings 
prisoner to our lines this Sebastopol spy, who 
had disguised himself as a Zouave, to study the 
secrets of our plan of attack. 

" I should never finish, were I to recount to 
you all that is related of Genty. 

" I refused to follow him, that evening. My 
turn of guard at the trenches came the next 
morning ; and as I had received a hint that we 
were to attack the Eussian ambuscades of the 
Mamelon, I did not choose to incur the hazard 
of being absent from the squadron. 

" Genty rendered very important service to 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 131 

the arm J from tlie very commencement of the 
campaign. Marshal St. Arnaud, upon Canro- 
bert's recommendation, availed himself of his 
courage and adroitness, and sent him to recon- 
noitre the Eussian positions, the night previous 
to the battle of Alma. 

"Gentj, on that occasion, detected the ma- 
noeuvres of a spy attached to Lord Eaglan's 
staff, and picked up a Polonese deserter. The 
treason of the Englishman and the reports of 
the deserter, it was said, obliged the allied gene- 
rals to modify twice, successively, their plans of 
strategy. 

"Leaving Old Fort, September 19th, the 
armies, filing en losange^ had gained the point of 
land in the direction of the Alma, marchino: 
along the coast. The fleets, also, kept close as 
possible to shore, and some of the steamers ap- 
proached so near, that the Finlanders, who pre- 
tend to be as good marksmen as we, could, by 
lying flat on the tops of the cliffs, shoot at our 
crews with impunity. 

" It was excessively warm, — a real African 
heat ; we had, for four days, drunk only brack- 
ish water, and we now eagerly filled our cans in 
the Alma. They encamped, that same evening 
of the 19th, on a height which the Eussian 
scouts had evacuated, and my comrade, Fritcher, 
and I pitched our tent behind the breast-line of 



132 RECOLLECTION'S OF A ZOUAVE. 

the regiment, but this time, a little nearer than 
nsual to the kitchen of the squad, for a good 
reason — we had invited company to dine with us. 

"A plain of nearly eight kilometres extended 
in front of our encampm^ents, and the Alma 
meandered at the foot of the hills overlooking 
that plain ; while, upon these hills, we perceived 
the bivouac fires of forty thousand Eussians 
awaiting us. 

"It Fas reported among us, that the bridge 
over the Alma had been undermined, and that 
we must cross the river by fording ; — so much 
the better; a foot-bath is not to be disdained, 
after four days' long marches in this country, 
sown with brambles and thistles, and wholly de- 
void of cross-roads. 

" As I have told you, we intended this evening 
to celebrate our arrival in front of the enemy, 
and to prepare by a grand /r^c/^^^ (extraordinary 
repast) for the battle of the morning. Genty, 
the celebrated corporal of the Zouaves, the mys- 
terious, future hero of the siege of Sebastopol, 
was to be one of us, and the squad wished to 
receive him worthily. 

"It was already late — nearly nine. The tents 
were erected, and all silent; the corvees had 
come in ; the main-guard and other sentinels at 
their post; the squads had supped, night-fires 
been kindled, and the battalion gone to sleep ; 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 133 

our squad alone still watched, and seated around 
a kitchen-fire, awaiting impatiently the arrival 
of the guest — impatience, redoubled whenever 
the cook lifted the cover of the saucepan, and 
emitted the aroma of the rata^ by plunging in 
his ramrod. 

"The bill of fare of ihis frichti w^^ worthy of 
Zouaves. If the hungry soldiers of the line are 
content with their short commons, we, by favor 
of our African industry, are going to fare like 
epicures ; we are determined to feast at the ex- 
pense of the Tartars, as we once did at that of 
the Arabs. 

" It is a Tartar with square face, flat nose, and 
round eyes, a pistol-shot apart, that has lent 
us the enormous turkey of this rata. It is 
another, who has yielded us the eggs of that 
fried omelette within the lid of our sauce- 
pan, and Tartar again, into the hargain, who has 
exchanged the water of our canteen, for wine 
from his vineyard. Ah 1 the secret is in know- 
ing how to manage a thing, or rather I should 
say, in learning the art of good management, so 
as to live well among the Tartars. 

" Still Genty came not. 

" Finally, in about two hours, a certain noise was 
heard on the side of the sentinel, who, lying flat on 
the ground, eye and ear on the alert, and finger on 
his tumbler, watches the approaches to our en- 



134: EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

* 

campments. We could distinguisTi in the obscu- 
rity, the sentinel rising with a bound, and lis- 
tened fall of anxiety — ready in case of an alarm, 
to rush to our rifles, piled together at hand. 

" What ill-luck, thought I, if orders should 
come to sound the garde a vous ! and the drum 
beat to arms, just as we are about to enjoy our 
frichti. 

" Fortunately, a stifled cry, one well understood 
as a countersign, reached our ears, we breathe 
freely ; the Eussians are still in tent, and we felt 
nothing more than a lively curiosity on seeing 
two individuals, who, after exchanging the watch- 
word with the sentinel, advanced towards our 
fire. 

" Behold him at last, serve up, forthwith. 
* Thanks,' said Genty in a tone of mysterious gra- 
vity, passing on without stopping ; ' thanks, boys, 
to-morrow, if we are still here.' 

" And he disappeared with his companion, a 
man of six feet, and stout in proportion. Who 
was this mute personage, this new comrade of 
Genty ? Nothing in his costume could inform 
us; he was wrapped in a long brown capote, 
and on his head, a sort of military cap — such 
were his outlines. 

" The /nc/^^^ was not joyous ; in a quarter of an 
hour, saucepan and cans were empty, and all 
was still in our tents. 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 135 

" On the morrow, when tlie first cannon of bat- 
tle had resounded, towards one o'clock in the 
afternoon ; the Zouaves of the Bosquet division 
cross the Alma, in water to the waist, and grape- 
shot from waist to head; scale the steep cliffs 
amid avalanches of bullets, then having gained 
a loftj height which Menschikoff regarded as 
inaccessible, folded their arms, smiling in pity, 
before that Eussian army, once the terror of 
Europe, now flying vanquished and eternally 
humiliated ! 

" I was shaking my trumpet on my sleeve, to 
empty the water from the end of it, which had 
gathered there during an almost breathless peal, 
when Genty, covered with blood like a butcher- 
boy, accosted me with — 

" ' Have you seen the artillery pass the bridge?' 

" ' Yes, and still see the ammunition- wagons 
defiling in the rear.' 

" Good ! this famous bridge was reported to 
be undermined, and the Marshal believed it so 
certainly, that until midnight, the artillery had 
received orders not to hazard being entangled in 
the flooring. It was a stratagem of Menschi- 
koff's to render unavailable the greater part of our 
field-pieces, but the person whom you saw yes- 
terday with me, unveiled the plot. They had 
sent me to sound the river, to scour the right 
bank, study the ground and scent out any snares 



136 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the enemy might have laid for us. My recon- 
noitering accomplished, I was about to re-enter 
the ford, when I saw emerging from a clump of 
alders, a very tall individual, who challenged me, 
saying in our language : 

" ' Are you a Frenchman ?' 

"'lam.' 

" ' I am a Polander.' 

«' ' Yery possibly.' 

" But seeing that, notwithstanding his title of 
Polander, I wished him to keep his distance, and 
that my rifle with bayonet at the end, was to 
constitute a treaty of union between us, he adds : 

" ' I am a Polander, and a Colonel ; I wish no 
longer to serve Kussia ; I desire to serve France. 
Conduct me to your commander-in-chief — here is 
my sword which you may bear him.' 

" This was a plausible speech, accordingly I 
took the sword, and bade him follow me ; there- 
fore was it that I passed by your frichti without 
tarrying. I was very hungry nevertheless, but 
duty before every thing else. 

" While we journeyed along together, like two 
old boon companians, I led the Polish colonel to 
talk about Monseiur Menschikoff, and some fine 
stories did he relate of him. By chance I spoke 
of the bridge we believed to be undermined. 

" ' A hoax !' he replied, ' a perfect hoax !' 

"Arrived at head-quarters I put my deserter 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 137 

into the hands of one of the marshal's aid-de- 
camps ; informing him moreover that the bridge 
of the Alma was enjoying good health. It appears 
to have been true, since the artillery has passed 
over it. 

"Gentj recounted his adventures with ex- 
traordinary simplicity. It seemed to him a 
natural thing to prowl about the skirts of the 
enemy's camp at night, to encounter a colonel in 
a deserter, to conduct him to head-quarters, and 
glean from his confessions the means of gaining 
a battle. Who can dare affirm that the victory 
would have been ours, with all the heroic 
courage of our soldiers, if the artillery had 
been prevented crossing the Alma? 

" The third day after, the vigilance and sagacity 
of Genty a second time saved the army. We 
were marching beyond Belbec; traversing un- 
known countries, liable every instant to fall into 
ambuscades, be hemmed in, receive showers of 
grapeshot, and even annihilated. We had come 
to a halt about noon, at the foot of a forest of lofty 
trees, and General Bosquet had granted us two 
hours to make coffee. The fire of Genty's squad 
was not far from ours, the two messes smoked to- 
gether, and chatted concerning the affairs on hand. 
Genty said not a word, and appeared anxious ; 
seated with his back against a tree, he kept his 
eyes fixed upon a group of English officers, who 

10 



138 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

at a short distance from us, respectfully sur- 
rounded tlie one-armed lord. 

" Suddenly lie rises, jerks Ms rifle from tlie 
pile, and darts gymnastically towards a Tartar, 
who, quitting the English halting place, had 
directed his course to the thicket, and there dis- 
appeared. He vanished in effect before Genty^ 
who had, nevertheless, changed his gymnastic 
pace into an ardent chase, could reach him. 

" We knew not what this signified, till a few 
minutes after, the Zouave and Tartar reappeared. 
Genty had made a noose of his turban for the 
Tartar's neck, and thus drags him, captive, to- 
wards the English stafi', the Tartar uttering cries 
of anguish, and seeming to protest his innocence. 

" ' Of what is he accused ?' they demanded. 

" ' Of bearing to Menschikoff a detailed recital 
of the deliberations of the war-councils of the 
allied army — that is all.' 

"Genty had remarked the suspicious motions 
of this man, who had introduced himself into 
our camps, calling us his liberators, and offering 
us, at low price, provisions, fowls, and fruits. 

" They searched him, and found in the folds of 
his garments, a copy of the order of march the 
Anglo-French army were executing. I leave 
you to judge whether this was an important dis- 
covery. Our two hours halt was prolonged. 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 139 

The grand council of war assembled, and every 
regiment received new orders. 

" It remained to punish the false Tartar, who 
was only a disguised Greek, and discover the 
traitor that had thus delivered him the secrets of 
the coancil. By comparing hand-writing, the 
guilty was detected. It was a young man, a 
Levantine, one of those creatures born in the 
East of Christian parents, who serve as Drago- 
men, interpreters between the Turkish and 
other European languages. Lord Kaglan had 
admitted him into his corps of secretaries scarcely 
a month since. It is said that on the same day, 
and before resuming the march, Lord Eaglan 
ordered the two wretches to be shot, before the 
front line of the English army. 

" Spies were occasionally arrested ; what became 
of them when falling into our hands I cannot tell ; 
I have never seen one shot. But English jus- 
tice is very summary — and it was said that Lord 
Eaglan had already had many hung without 
the formality of trial. 

" I have often wondered how it was that spies 
penetrated within our parallels and encampments. 

" By day it is impossible, at night extremely 
difficult. In the day-time, they must cross our 
out-posts without the sentinel's observing on 
which side they come ; — at night, their mere 
presence outside the camp and trenches would 



140 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

give the alarm, and their incognito be endan- 
gered. I think, then, and doubtless, with reason, 
that they have informers in the Turkish army, 
which includes in its ranks a goodly number of 
Greeks. 

" Their mission, therefore, is attended with no 
great danger. They come and go by night with- 
out fear, after lulling the vigilance of our out- 
posts. 

" This is not intended as an accusation against 
the Turkish army; — God forbid! There is in it 
a majority of brave and loyal soldiers, but each 
individual is not matriculated with as much 
caution as among us ; and strangers may take the 
place of the real soldier, in a company or squad- 
ron, without the commander's immediately per- 
ceiving it — so many men, and rations in propor- 
tion ; such is the only process they employ to state 
the number of men present under their banners ; 
and the computation is settled by contractors 
privileged by the Pasha in command. Spies 
follow yet another route, that by sea. They 
enter as passengers, as merchants of -^Balaklava 
and Kamiesh, they thus visit our camps, works, 
and parallels, collect information, relating to 
war, then, some fair night, flee to Sebastopol. 

" The severest measures have been taken to 
obstruct the path of these gentlemen. It is now 
forbidden to rove about the works of the seige 



RECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 141 

without a special permission from the Com- 
manders in Chief, and that is only obtained with 
difficulty. Not a day passes without some arrests 
on suspicion, arrests oftentimes unjust, ending 
with the release of the supposed culprit, who has 
neglected to provide himself with a passport, or 
had hoped to find and had failed to do so, beside 
the works he is visiting, an officer of his acquain- 
tance who may answer for him in case of necessity. 

" To return to the fourhi^ I must confess the 
Zouave practised it with incontestable talent, but 
that the Zephyr^ the joyeux, the star of the Bazaar 
is the true master of the genus ; to him belongs 
the gold medal, the great medal of honor, as they 
say in the Palais d'Industrie. 

'' The Zephyr, 2. save-all \n combat, nursesYam.- 
self in recess ; the army in campaign might want 
bread, garments, shoes ; but he has Shoes, gar- 
ments and bread to spare. 

" The past winter was a rude one to all, except 
him ; his fire was never extinguished, his saucepan 
always full, his store-room richly provisioned. 

' ' He was not the one to be content with simple 
rice, salt beef, a joint of bacon, marine delicacies, 
campaign biscuit, mocha pre-eminently white and 
transparent, or the refreshing liquids of the aque- 
duct and Tchernaye ; no, no ! — without untying his 
purse, or giving a thousand per cent, to the Ba- 
nians of Balaklava, or honoring the sutlers with 



142 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

his custom, lie lias found means to cliange water 
into wine, white mocha into black, biscuit into 
new bread, marine delicacies into Morel or Masson 
preserves, salt meat into fresh, simple rice into 
savory pilau * 

' ' Zephyr ! the land of Africa" was his country ; 
his battallions everywhere at once, at the north 
and at the south, at the east and at the west, 
ever quick and agile, never asleep ; joyous ! he 
laughs and sings before combat, during combat 
and after combat ; he grazes fatigue, disease and 
death. 

" Star of the Bazaar ! ah ! behold the stigma of 
shame he would hide from every eye under a 
little glory and much nonchalance ; star of the 
hazaar ! he wears on his buttons of tarnished 
zinc a star in place of the number of his regi- 
ment — for "he has lost his regiment for selling or 
pawning the uniform to purchase a hasty debauch. 

" There exists much courage and considerable 
intelligence among the young men, on whom the 
councils of war have inflicted the punishment 
of the bullet, t and who, the term of their sen- 
tence expired, perform a kind of novitiatory re- 
instatement in the African battalions, before 
again entering a corps of the army; unfortu- 

* Stews. 

j- Military sentence for deserters, so called ; a cannon-ball 
chained to the foot. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 143 

nately, tlie majority of these military Pariahs, 
far from amending, become thoroughly de- 
praved ; — happy those that die when first con- 
victed ! 

" We have but one battalion of Zephyrs in 
the Crimea. It is reported that the general has 
demanded those still in Africa. If this be true, 
beware, villages, chateaux, country-houses, farm- 
houses of the valley of Baida, and even the en- 
virons of Aloupka and Yalta! They will there 
concentrate their adventurous search ; for, from 
Old Fort to the heights of Chersonesus, we have 
made a complete inventory, without leaving 
aught unfledged. The Zephyr will probably be 
entrusted with the office of reconnoitering the 
positions of that famous Kussian army of the 
interior, we have so long awaited, and which 
does not dare descend to cope with us. 

"The Zephyr loves good wine, and knows 
how to procure it. In October last, at a halt of 
the army on the left bank of the Kutcha, the 
battalion of Zephyrs composing part of the 
main-'guard, with one of our regiments of the 
line and an English one, encamped near a Tar- 
tar village, called Jalawkoi or Alankoi, I know 
not exactly which. The seigneur of this village, 
for there are many in this country, inhabited a 
magnificent chateau on the heights, surrounded 
with vineyards, luxuriant as those of Burgundy. 



144 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

He did not deem it necessary to remain at liome 
to do tile honors of hospitality, and offer ns re- 
freshments; but, with perfect confidence in the 
politeness of the French trooper, he leaves on 
the mantel of his saloon, in departing, a letter 
addressed to the commander-in-chief. In this 
letter, he prays the general not to demolish his 
castle, and to respect his furniture — especially a 
piano that belonged to his beloved daughter ; 
and adds, that he presents the army with the 
fruits of his garden, the fowls of his poultry- 
yard, and the wines of his cellar. The Zephyrs 
find, this letter, and carry it to its address. A 
quarter of an hour after, there was high festival 
at the chateau! Mademoiselle's piano was 
crushed into fragments, amid torrents of har- 
mony; the furniture went flying through the 
windows; a bonfire illumined the court-yard; 
they wring the necks of Monsieur's poultry, reap 
Monsieur's garden, stave in Monsieur's casks in 
the cellar ; in fine, they sweep the castle from 
top to bottom, and when the trumpets sound for 
departure, there remained nothing intact oY that 
sumptuous abode save the free-stone walls and 
roof. 

" I am wrong. One cellar had not been pil- 
laged, nor the wine drunk. Only certain privi- 
leged individuals of the Zephyr battalion had 
decanted the best qualities and the oldest, with- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 145 

out admitting the English and the line to a 
share. Estimate how many bottles of fine wine 
it required to fill the large canteens of the 
squad, and the small ones of an infantry battal- 
ion, as well as the kegs of the sutlers, and add 
to the total the three or four bottles each man 
carries within him, or in his sack, and you will 
learn what this choice cellar contained. 

"These Merry- Andrews of Zephyrs, stars of 
the hazaar, concocted a trick, a panic, in order to 
monopolize the Bordeaux, Burgundy, Cham- 
pagne, and Tokay of the Boyard. Cholera still 
harrassed the English, and during this halt, some 
unfortunates had been attacked with it. Well, 
they spread the report that the Boyard had 
poisoned the wine of his cellar, and that the 
English, far from having the cholera, had been 
poisoned by drinking it. 

"It required no more to put the cellar in 
Quarantine; the Zephyrs alone absorbed the 
fine wines, and for a whole week, the battalion 
merited more than ever, the name of battalion des 
joyeuxP 



146 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEE YII. 

THE NIGHT SKIRMISHERS. — THE GOURMAND CORPORAL. — FAU- 
BOURG. — RADISHES AND SALAD. 

"Since our parallels have been extended, and 
we are not more tlian a few metres from tlie 
outposts, the company of sharp-shooters and 
stragglers has been disbanded. 

" Space was, henceforth, wanting. The men 
were sent back to their respective corps, with 
mention on the certificate of each, that he had 
belonged to that heroic phalanx. It is a title of 
military noblesse. 

"I have, frequently, during the winter, ac- 
companied this forlorn hope. They willingly 
accepted the co-operation of trusty associates. 
We habitually set out from the end of a trench, 
where the sentinel has received orders to let us 
go and return. We selected a dark and moon- 
less night ; rain was not inauspicious ; on the 
contrary, it deadened the noise of our movements, 
and inspired security from the enemy. 

" Two comrades formed the main-guard ; they 
did not advance directly in front or abreast, but 
kept pace four or five steps apart, one behind 
the other, and a little to one side, taking note of 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 147 

the ground, scenting the darkness, and tlins 
guiding the troop, who with its officer at the 
head, followed them, crawling on all fours. 

"In this position, thej would slide the rifle 
along the earth, pushing it before them as far 
as their arm extended, then propel themselves 
forward beside it, repeating the same manoeuvre, 
slowly gaining ground, always mute as robbers 
in an inhabited house, ear ever listening, and 
ready to leap npon the enemy's vidette that 
might discover the band. 

" Certainly, never did cat watching along the 
wall for mice to issue from their holes, move 
with more profound silence, than the scouts 
prowling by night around Sebastopol. 

" The two in front of the party observe every- 
thing with keen searching glance, despite the 
obscurity; they sound the space before, anH 
above all, snuff up the Russians who have a cer- 
tain distinctive perfume, and from time to time, 
communicate their observations to the officer in 
command of the expedition. 

"One time, we had, as mission, not to kill the 
Eussian sentinels in our path, but simply to 
reconnoitre the fortifications of the besieged on 
a peak behind the Mamelon Yert. 

"Lieutenant Brener commanded us. "We 
were required to ascertain the enemy's posi- 
tion, and re-enter our parallels, without ex- 



148 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

citing tlie slightest suspicion. We traced an 
immense semi-circle in going, and encountered 
on our right, a mound of eartli, beMnd whicli 
was a group of Eussians in ambush. 

" Nothing was easier than- to fall upon this 
group, strangle them in a lump, or still better, 
cut them in two. But then we should give the 
alarm and the end of the expedition would fail. 

" We must, therefore, dodge them cooUj and 
without a word, slip between them and the 
ditch where the enemy's pioneers were at work, 
inspect this ditch, and regain our posts without 
having^ once sheathed our sabres in their skins. 

" The discovery of a mine on our return, 
repaid us for this compulsory forbearance. 

"Another time, fool that I was, I followed 
a gallant corporal who hoped to find in the out- 
skirts of the arsenal, a certain pretty Grreek. I 
confess that I too had similar anticipations. 

" We penetrated, by means of a breach with- 
out much difficulty. All the houses were 
abandoned, rifled and devastated, and although 
there was no obstruction to free passage of air, 
since there remained not a pane of glass in the 
windows, they were infected by a peculiar odor, 
acrid and repugnant, a smell of rancid grease, 
that took us by the throat and threatened to 
give us a fit of coughing. 

'' Fortunately, we contrived to muzzle it, or a 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 149 

bivonac, tlie fires of wliicli ligTited the end of the 
street, would have given us a fall backward. 

"The pretty Greeks did not appear, but we 
consoled ourselves, by each bearing, as a spoil, 
a load of dead wood for our tent-fire. 

" I still laugh heartily, in thinking with what 
celerity we, by the aid of our little hand-saws, 
made faggots of a dozen forgotten chairs of a 
room. 

"There were buffets, wooden bedsteads, and 
other furniture, which did not remain long, for 
the next night, comrades to whom we had men- 
tioned the discovery of this new species of forest- 
timber, were busy cutting wood for fuel ; vines 
and their roots were long since consumed, and 
the cold was still very sharp. 

"In passing from the saloon where we had 
found the chairs into another chamber, I felt 
beneath my feet something soft and downy. It 
was a carpet, a velvet carpet — a mochadoes. 

" Here is a treasure, thought I, wherewith to 
neutralize the damp floor of our tent. 

" ' What say you to this, corporal T 

" The corporal responded by cutting with his 
sabre a large square piece of the carpet ; I did 
the same, and we quitted the faubourg loaded 
like professional pedlars. 

" Another time still, in the middle of spring, 
I re-visited this place, with the same corporal, 



150 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

wlio had many of tlie most whimsical ideas and 
the most original tastes of any man I have ever 
known. 

" This evening he had a fancy to eat a salad, 
and pretended that we could find bunches of 
lettuce in the little gardens adjoining the houses 
of the faubourg. 

" 'But wretch,' said I to him, ' where will you 
get oil to season the lettuce, unless you use that 
of your powder-flask ? That would be fine, truly ! 
beefs-foot oil ! And the vinegar ?' 

"'Stupid I' he replied; 'I have invited the 
infirmary corporal of the division to breakfast, 
and he will bring with him from the hospital, 
as his contribution, vinegar for the gargle, and 
olive oil to make the cerate.' 

" As he was determined to go alone to this 
new sort of foraging, though I refused to accom- 
pany him, I was willing at least to be within call 
to aid him in case of accident, and followed in 
spite of myself. 

" What folly thus to risk liberty and life to 
gratify a caprice worthy of a pining woman. 

" It is now, as a poor invalid, that I compre- 
hend aright all the danger of those adventurous, 
unprofitable nocturnal ranibles. 

"But then, we were in a state of indefinite 
excitement ; we respired powder, not air. Our 
hearts beat the charge ; we dreaded more a rent 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 151 

in our apparel than in our flesh, and were ready 
to sleep in death, careless, as if the tap of the 
reveille would awake us in the morning. 

" We set out, accordingly, towards nine and 
returned three hours after, safe and sound, but 
with empty hands. 

" This failure did not discourage my Corporal 
— quite the reverse. 

" The night following, he still wished to imbue 
me with his gourmandise^ but I refused positively, 
and he departed alone to explore another garden, 
which from the Clocheton post, he had observed 
to be verdant and full of wild herbs. 

" Seeds, fallen from the plants of the preceding 
year, had germinated abundantly, and he re- 
turned triumphant, laden, not with salad, but 
with a magnificent bunch of radishes, which he 
presented to the General of the forlorn hope, 
Lieutenant Brener. This bunch of radishes had 
much success in camp; the supposition natu- 
rally occurred that he had not gathered all, and 
he was solicited for more, to be paid with gold, so 
that the ordinary of several officers was replen- 
ished with these vegetables. 

" Beware of gathering prunes, while in search 
of radishes, said some one to him, night-fusillade 
and grape shot are not always blind. 

"But he hearkened not, wholly intent on 
filling his goose craw — that little skin-purse — that 



152 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

providence we wear at the neck, as a scapular j ; 
and whenever not on guard, was pursuing Ms 
perilous vocation of noctambular gardener. 

" One evening, in bidding him farewell till the 
morrow, I pressed his hand more warmly than 
usual ; a sad presentiment told me we should 
never meet again. 

"In effect, he went forth and returned no 
more. 

" Was he dead or a prisoner ? None could 
tell. 

" The Eussians did not take the trouble of 
repairing the walls of this faubourg, broken in 
many places by our artillery, and perforated 
with breaches large enough for entire battalions 
to enter abreast. 

"They knew that this position, which we 
could occupy, at any moment, would be more 
fatal than useful, for it stood exposed to the bat- 
teries of the Quarantine, on the other side of the 
road-stead, at four or five metres distance. 

" Troops were never sent there, except at 
night ; they bivouacked in the cross roads, and 
retired when morning dawned. 

In the commencement of the seige, the excur- 
sions of scouts amid this labyrinth of ruins, 
might have proved of some utility, in the way 
of procuring valuable information as to the 
standing forces of the beseiged and their measures 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 153 

of defence ; but since the watcli-guard has been 
entrusted to the batteries on the other side of the 
bay, the dangers incurred by penetrating there, 
offer no advantage, and our sentinels have received 
orders to arrest adventurers such as my Cor- 
poral. 

" How many brave men have fallen, without 
profit as without glory ! 

" Towards the end of January, twenty of our 
skirmishers were assailed by a host of Cossacks ; 
eight only escaped death." 



11 



154: RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE ENGLISH BEFORE MALAKOFF. — TENTE-ABRI. — MENAGE. — 

MOCHADOES CARPET. CHIMNEY-FLUE. BLANC-BLANC 

GREYHOUND. — DRUMS. — WHITE GOAT OF TWENTY-THIRD 
ROYAL FUSILEERS OP WALES. 

'* SiKCE my departure, I learn that tlie English 
held, for an entire day, the fanbourg adjoining the 
port and batteries of the garden. They entered 
after the attack of Redan and the Malakoff 
tower, June 18, and expelled the Russians, who 
disputed the ground by inches, converting every 
house into an ambuscade, every window into a 
port-hole ; selling dearly the ephemeral posses- 
sion of a position which our allies must neces- 
sarily evacuate, a few hours after victory. 

" The combat was fruitful in terrible episodes. 

" ' This to thy heart, d — d Englishman !' yelled 
out Prince Stregnoff, who, finding himself at the 
turn of a street, face to face with Lord O'Nevil, 
plunges his sword to the very hilt in his body. 

" ' Thank you !' replies the Irishman, availing 
himself of the moment left him, to discharge 
his revolver into the still half-open mouth of the 
Russian. 

" And both fell dead, having, no doubt, as a 



RECOLLECTION'S OF A ZOUAVE. 155 

dying remembrance, ttie tliouglit of their past 
friendship. This lord and prince had known 
each other at London and Paris, before the war, 
and were cited as inseparable. The journals re- 
count a hundred other analogous facts. 

" The conflict ended, our allies took inventory 
of their conquests. 

" The civil population had only time to fly 
into the city, leaving, to the mercy of the in- 
vaders, their furniture, provisions, riches — in 
fine, all they possessed ; and the pillage con- 
tinued as long as any thing remained, 

"The Hisfhlanders installed themselves in the 
sumptuous habitation of a general-officer, and 
toasted to the glory of the allied armies, with 
the Bordeaux of Aloupka and Champagne of 
Margarath — those growths of the Crimea al- 
ready rivalling the old vineyards of France. 

" The mirrors and porcelain ornaments served 
for target to the Eoyal Fusileers; the melo- 
maniacs executed God save the Queen, to the fu- 
rious accompaniment of the butt-end of their 
muskets on the keys of the piano ; the furniture, 
dismembered, chopped in pieces, and made into 
bundles, fed an immense St. John's fire ; and 
when the hour of retreat sounded, the ravagers 
returned to their lines, some in women's robes, 
shako adorned with laces and flowers ; others, 
with pockets garnished with money and jewels ; 



156 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

all, in fine, carrying, according to taste and 
caprice, some relics of that great day's pillage. 

" You remember that my last fourhi adven- 
ture in tlie Quarantine faubourg procured me a 
good bundle of fuel from cliairs left there, be- 
sides a Mocbadoes carpet for our tent; but I 
have not yet described this tent to you. It re- 
sembles neither the African tents that you see in 
the pictures of Horace Yernet, nor the falcon- 
nets of Satory, nor those pretty Turkish tents, 
of conical form and sea-green color ; it was sim- 
ply a tente-ahri^ or tent-shelter ; a foraging cap, 
or linen umbrella, with two handles, fixed in the 
earth, instead of beins^ carried in the hand. 
Have you ever remarked on the sack of a war- 
trooper, a little roll of grey linen, and two pieces 
of wood stripped of their bark, and very like a 
broom-handle sawed into two parts ? Such, then, 
is the entire stock of camp-material ; and for 
two, understand! 

" The trooper joins these two pieces of wood, 
by means of a tin socket, thus forming a staff — 
this is pillar No. 1, of the edifice. The comrade 
does likewise — pillar No. 2. Then, by hooks 
previously sewed on, or buttons and buttonholes, 
they unite the breadths of linen out of each 
sack, and place them, divided in the centre, over 
the two pillars, whence they slope to the ground. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 157 

where the ends are fastened with stakes, foraged 
along the route. 

" Meanwhile, the two sides are open. 

" One is permanently closed with buttons or 
else sewed together, and the other provided with 
a flexible coach- door, if there has been address 
enough to procure linen sufficient to construct 
this door. 

" This is what they style the marabout tent. 
A very convenient asylum for a summer's 
night. 

" The honor of having invented the tent-ahri is 
generally attributed to' the Zouaves; I am a 
Zouave, but I am just, nevertheless, and must 
render to Ccesar the things that are Cesar's— 
this honor belongs to the soldiers of the 17th 
light infantry. 

" The idea was first conceived in the cold nights 
of the African bivouacs, of ripping asunder their 
knapsack encampments, and making them into 
covers or shelters, by joining the two with pack- 
thread, and supporting them on poles. General 
Bedeau, then Colonel, adopted this mode of 
shelter, and included it among the regulations of 
his regiment— others followed the example. 

" The little tents were very useful to us in time 
of war, where transportation of material offered 
such numberless difficulties, that the ordinary 
tents as well as the wooden barracks, did not 
reach Sebastopol till very late. 



158 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" The EnglisTi army possessed none of these, 
accordingly, tlie suffering among our allies was 
infinitely greater than with us. 

" They are called marabouts, from those low 
mound-mausoleums, the sepulchres of venerated 
Santons, seen here and there on the hills of Mus- 
sulman lands. They are also named foraging 
caps^ their shape somewhat similar to the head- 
gear worn by this particular corps. 

" They afford shelter for two, four, six, eight, 
according to the breadths of linen and staffs of 
support. Sometimes there will be one formed 
like a narrow gang-way, and only occupying 
space lengthwise. 

'' My comrade Fritcher, and I, established one 
for ourselves exclusively, twenty paces behind 
the front line of the regiment, between the 
kitchens and canteen pavilion. 

" It does not become me to vaunt as a Zouave ; 
but I assure you that what has been said of the 
inventive, industrious spirit of the Zouave in 
campaign is even below the truth. 

"A tentahri is only temporary; erected at 
evening and refolded in the morning at pleasure ; 
and if not a perfect shield against inclement 
nights, it is, at least, easily transported in travel, 
and there is always certainty of being able to 
reconstruct it whenever expedient. 

" Before Sebastopol, it was necessary for us to 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 159 

endeavor to convert tHs^ provisional shelter into 
a permanent and solid one, capable of resisting 
violent winds, bearing snow-drifts, and defying 
torrents of rain, not only during a single night, 
or week, or month, but for a whole winter ; — we 
succeeded marvellously. 

" I cite my tent as a model : 

" Two Eussian gun-barrels, transversely placed 
from one staff to the other, consolidated the edi- 
fice and held firm the angle of the roof; we sur- 
rounded the outside with a wadding of fuller's 
earth, to prevent the air and wind from raising 
the lower end of the tent into small arches, be- 
tween the pegs that fastened it in the ground ; 
then, below this wadding, we constructed, with 
old bricks and tiles gathered among the ruins of 
farm-houses on the heights, a gutter or running 
canal to receive the rain rolling down the sides 
of the linen. 

" So much for the exterior. 

" "Within, the earth is dug about a third of a 
metre in depth, a clay border, a kind of estrade 
or story the same in breadth, runs entirely 
around ; there the menage was deposited, clothes- 
bag, canteen, platters, brushes, oil-vial, provi- 
sions, daily rations, everything in fine, all the 
rattle-traps of a soldier in campaign. It is there 
also, that we sat, when weary of lying a-bed. 

" Fire was kindled in a slope of this astrade 



160 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

with a bed of bricks for an area, bricks also for 
the sides, and free-stone for the mantle, the smoke 
escaping through a hole dug aslant, which passed 
underneath the estrade and fuller's earth wad- 
ding, and opeued outside into a sheet-iron flue 
standing erect like a boundary. This sheet-iron 
pipe, which we had spied on the top of a house 
in the outskirts, was dislodged from its nest one 
fine night, by my comrade Fritcher, and it bears 
in indentations the marks of three or four balls 
sent after him by Eussian sentinels, taking 
alarm as he passed. 

" To one of the staff-pillars is hitched the Saint- 
Gobain, the little mirror, round as a zinc snuff- 
box, in which we proudly look every morning, 
to see whether powder has yet blackened our 
French warrior jphysique ; to the other is affixed 
a wire, made to serve for a candlestick to the 
steariques bought, at two frances each, in Balak- 
lava, in honor of the friend who should come 
to spend the evening with us. 

" The floor of our retreat remained a long time 
merely inlaid with fuller's earth, which I had 
studded with little round pebbles. 

"We slept there, enveloped in our blankets, 
and preferring that hard berth, always clean, to 
the herb-litters, which soon became dry and re- 
duced to dust ; and what happiness, what a de- 
lightful luxury, when the mochadoes-carpet 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 161 

arrived to embellisli the reduct ! We were the 
envy of the whole regiment ; nothing was talked 
of hut our carpet, and certain rich officers offered 
us its weight in gold. I enjoyed too many happy 
dreams on it, ever to think of selling it. 

" Such Avas the abode of myself and comrade 
Eritcher, from November until March. They 
styled it in camp, the trumpeters' boudoir, and it 
could be recognized from all others at a distance, 
not by the clarions suspended to our rifle-band, 
but by the proximity of that proud chimney- 
flue, which, in time of truce, emitted a little light 
curl of pretty bluish smoke. This boudoir was 
very small and contracted for two persons, and 
yet there was always a place to receive a friend. 

" What do I say ? That friend inhabited it con- 
stantly, and I know not how I can have forgotten 
to tell you that Blanc- Blanc ^ anciently a denizen 
of Africa, an old Zouave, partook our camp-or- 
dinary. Poor Blanc- Blanc ; what has become 
of thee ? Does he who has replaced me beside 
my comrade Fritcher, love thee as I loved thee ? 
Does he divide with thee his joys, and his wind- 
falls as I did ? Has he always a caress in 
response to thy caress ? My malediction on him 
if he banish not from thee the inevitable priva- 
tions and miseries of camp life ! 

" Ah, what a pair of old friends we were, Blanc 
Blanc and I, for more than four years. On my 



162 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

receiving orders to quit Africa, lie persistently 
followed me. He would have pined to death at 
Stora, if seeing no more his beloved Zonaves. 
Fortunately, the stewards granted him a passage 
on the ship with the regiment ; and from Galli- 
poli to Adrianople, from Yenice to Yarna, from 
Yarna to Mangolia, from Mangolia to Knstendji, 
from Knstendji first, then from Old Fort to Alma, 
from Alma to Belbek, and from Belbek to the 
parallels, he has proudly marched to the step of 
our trumpet notes, sometimes hunting game in 
the van, or beating the thickets on our flanks, 
and sometimes too, when the heat became oppres- 
sive, taking refuge in my shadow, or that of my 
comrade Fritcher. 

Eegiments, brigades, all the divisions of our 
corps knew him, and he them, and so perfectly 
could he distinguish a Zouave from another 
trooper, that his fury would rage, and he would 
run his sharp teeth into the calf of any strange 
soldier of the corps, who would dare to saunter 
alone into our sanctum. 

" Whence came Blanc-Blanc ? 

" Where was he born ? 

" How did he become bound, body and soul, 
to the Zouaves, from infancy ? 

" I knew not, nor any one in the army. 

" Like young dogs which quit their master for 
any new comer, he had, doubtless, followed us 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 163 

one day as we were leaving Constantina, 
Algiers or Oran ; tlie music of tlie trumpets 
being more agreeable to bis ear tban bis master's 
wbistles ; tben, at tbe end of a long marcb, we 
bad not tbe barbarity to send bim back, for sncb 
a journey on foot, and a few scraps of biscuit 
bad gained us bis eternal gratitude. 

"Tbe name of Blanc-Blanc was given bim 
because of tbe perfect blackness of bis coat, witb- 
out a spot of anotber colour. 

' ' As to bis race, species, genus, variety, it is 
impossible to determine. 

" So continual and frequent bave been tbe 
crosses and misalliances amoug bis ancestors on 
tbe paternal as well as maternal side, tbat bis 
individuality, as a master-piece of electicism, is, 
of necessit}^, nameless. Otberwise, be must bave 
retained an inberitance of faults, qualities, babits 
and features distinctive of eacb progenitor. 
Meanwbile, if tbe qualifications of pure blood 
could be applied to tbe morale as well as tbe 
physique of animals, Blanc-Blanc, bideous in 
form and repulsive of aspect, by tbe rule of intel- 
ligence, sbould be of extraordinary lineage, — of 
admirably pure blood. 

" In tbe commencement of tbe seige, be fol- 
lowed my comrade Fritcber, and me, wbenever 
we went to tbe trencbes. 

" Since cats, monkeys and dogs bave been pro- 



164 RECOLLECTTO:srS OF A ZOUAVE. 

scribed at the trendies, and the ambulatory 
menageries are restricted to the camp, Blanc- 
Blanc naonnts guard before our tent, while we 
are absent, and never wags his tail joyously nor 
utters his short, stilled barks of satisfaction till 
he perceives us — myself, and my comrade, 
Fritcher — returning safe and sound, after twenty- 
four hours at the trenches. 

" One day, Fritcher, being off duty, discovered 
that I had forgotten my tobacco-pouch — he 
attached it to Blanc-Blanc's neck, and he came 
trotting to me with it, to the Clocheton, where I 
was in service of our Colonel. 

" The Paris journals have made frequent allu- 
sions to the cats and monkeys of the Zouaves ; 
and the designers of the Illustrated News repre- 
sent us sometimes as a sharp-shooter in ambus- 
cade, with his monkey, perched on the back, 
rubbing his face and buttocks ; or again, a Zou- 
ave, firing a musket, while a cat, squatted on his 
knap- sack, raises to heaven her placid head, with 
an air of ivarTning herself by the fire. 

" This is fancy, wholly ; in the first place, as I 
have already said, we do not take our knap-sack 
into an engagement, we leave the menage in 
tent. 

" And secondly, if there are any monkeys in 
camp, the number is very small, and I have 
never seen or heard of them. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 165 

" As to cats, they abound, but rarely quit tlie 
environs of tlie kitchens and canteens. They 
were there before us, born in the houses and 
farms we have devastated ; they represent to us 
the ancient proprietors, who have fled, and we 
live together very harmoniously, but that is all. 

"Innumerable dogs from Balaklava, Sebas- 
topol, and even towns in the interior, attracted 
by carrion of animals dying this winter, have 
wandered about our camps as they do in the 
Turkish cities. Continually driven off, they still 
return more numerous and famished. 

" Some English possess dogs of high lineage, 
splendid dogs^ as they call them, but stupid ani- 
mals as ever existed. Blanc-Blanc had an 
instinctive hatred of these pampered beasts, and 
lost no occasion of tasting their coats, always 
aristocratically sleek. In his case, the cordial 
embrace was simply a dead letter. 

" It seems that the skin of greyhounds is 
excellent for drums. It is admirably adapted to 
the circular form of the cylinder, and the sticks 
rebound magically upon it, as on elastic, sonorous 
marble. This explains the disappearance of many 
of these quadrupeds, which the English generals 
reclaimed in our camps by placards to the sound 
of the drum. 

"General Cathcart offered a reward of ten 



166 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

pounds sterling for the delivery of his grey- 
hound, missing for ten days. 

" ' Had I suspected the 250 francs reward, I 
would have taken the peel of another dog to 
replace my old skin,' said the old drummer to 
me, who proclaimed the offer of the English 
General, beating his accompaniment on the skin 
of the very animal in question. 

" But the most curious individual of the Avhole 
Anglo-French menagerie, was not a dog^ but a 
large goat, white as snow, presented by her most 
gracious majesty. Queen Victoria, to the 23d 
Koyal Fusileers of Wales. 

" When we quitted the camp of Boulair for 
Bulgaria by land, I have seen this venerable 
goats'-beard endure twenty-one days march with- 
out apparent fatigue. 

" Always twenty paces in advance of the regi- 
ment, he stepped forth, proud and majestic, as if 
to command universal respect for his person, as 
the representative of a crowned head. 

" The first to embark at Kalamita, and the 
first to land at Old Fort, he was cited in the 
order of the day of the army (English) for the 
passive sangfroid he manifested at Alma, in 
bearing, without flinching, at the head of the 
Eoyal Fusileers, the reiterated shocks and 
charges of a Russian division; and as the 
Morning Advertiser, a London journal, pretends, 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 167 

Lord Eaglan demanded an Alma medal for Hm 
of tlie minister of war, Lord Panmure, or rather 
Lord Paindur^ as we say in bantering the 
English. 

" While onr allies, in the severest part of the 
winter, had neither barracks, tents, shelter, 
nothing in fine, to defend them against the wind, 
rain, cold and snow, the royal goat occupied a 
warm hnt, slept upon a thick litter of yellow 
straw, drank melted snow, and browsed the best 
grasses direct from England. He grew fat, the 
noble animal, but the sentinel at the door waxed 
lean. 

" Oh, the vanity of human affairs ! 

"One morning, the goat was found asleep 
beneath the rack still full of hay; it was an 
eternal sleep. 

" The Koyal Fusileers of Wales were deeply 
affected at the death of their white-bearded com- 
panion. They rendered him military honors 
and interred him on the abattoir^ (slaughter-field,) 
on that plateau of sinister memory, where 
perished at the battle of Inkermann, the elite of 
the English cavalry. 

" But of what did he die, the venerable goat ? 
Of cold ? impossible ! he was too luxuriously 
quartered. 

" Of hunger ? but he had provender in abun- 



168 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

dance. His crib, filled tlie evening before, was 
little diminisbed on tbe morning of his decease. 

" Of disease ? but tbe veterinary, in making 
bis nigbtly round, bad pulled bis beard, laugb- 
ing and felicitating bini on bis robust bealtb. 

" Of wbat tben, in fine ? Of poison, or stroke 
of apoplexy ? Not apoplexy, but poison. Yes, 
of poison, and no one suspected tbe crime, tbe 
perpetrator of wbicb remained long unknown. 

"Do you recall tbe stalwart soldier of tbe 
foreign legion on tbe Lady Jocelyn^ wbo ex- 
plained to us, by wbat metbod, tbe legion 
renewed tbeir boots ? You recollect also, tbat 
be paraded tbe deck, clotbed in a goat's-skin of 
pure wbite, a comfortable and splendid vest- 
ment, witb wbicb be could defy day and nigbt, 
cold, dampness and rain. Well, tbis same 
adventurer unveiled to us tbe cause of tbe 
mysterious deatb of tbe wbite goat. 

" Gilblas, if a soldier, could not bave man- 
aged more adroitly. 

" ' Wbat bas become of tbe wbite kid frock, 
tbat made you so resemble tbe courier of a Kus- 
sian Ambassador, during our passage from Ka- 
miesb to Constantinople ?' demanded of bim 
some one in our circle of smokers. 

" 'It was tbe skin of a goat,' be replied, ' and I 
bave returned it to one of tbe original pro- 
prietors.' 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 169 

" ' Yet you told us, that 3^ou yourself fabri- 
cated this garment !' 

" ' True, but the original material did not be- 
long^ to me.' 

" ' There must have been a fourhi connected 
with it, comrade,' insinuated I ? 

" ' Ah, and a famous one, too,' he responded, 
'a fourhi^ wherein John Bull held the offices 
of financier and purveyor,' 

" ' Recount us the history, then.' 

" ' You will be incredulous: nevertheless, it is 
perfectly true. The scene was enacted at the 
end of December, when the need of warm cloth- 
ing fwas felt throughout the army, and we 
awaited with extreme impatience, the sheep-skin 
over-coats from mother country. We could 
have unhitched the Muscovite capotes as we did 
the Eussian leather boots. But we all preferred 
freezing in our scanty uniform, to being wrap- 
ped in the spoils of those offensive beasts. The 
boots we could endure. We opposed perfume 
to perfume there. But, to cover back, breast, 
and arms, with vestments, impregnated with the 
sweat of mo'ujick^ and soil our hands by the con- 
tact, and martyrize our nose by snuffing them 
continually, in spite of us, was too much !' 

" ' Is there any one of you, comrades, that 
would have ventured being muffled in a Russian 
capote? Oh, never, never!' 

12 



170 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



" ' Genty, only, dared to do so.' 

" ' And yet tlie cold was excessive, equal to 
Spitzbergen.' 

" ' The legion was encamped not far from the 
23d Welsh Fnsileers. My tent-comrade said to 
me, one day, on seeing the white goat leave his 
stable : 

* " ' Would that we were as warmly clad as 
this noble animal !' 

" ' Full dress would be comfortable, but not 
according to regulations.' 

" ' That is just what passes in my mind on 
looking at that thick, silken fur.' 

" 'The idea is natural and just, but alas !t it is 
no more than an idea.' 

" ' Only an idea !' 

" ' I see nothing else ; it is difficult to warm 
one's self by an idea.' 

" ' On the contrary, nothing easier, it only re- 
quires to put it in action.' 

" ' Do you wish, then, that we should take the 
place of the goat ?' 

" ' Yes.' 

*' *In his stable?' 

" ' Eh, no, in his white skin.' 

" ' I do not comprehend.' 

" ' How ! you do not understand that an over- 
coat manufactured from the hide of the royal 



eecollectiojsts of a zouave. 171 

favorite of tlie Fusileers' would protect us from 
the inclemency of the season ?' 

" ' Oil, that I comprehend, very well, but 
not where you are to find that manufactured 
houppelande.^ 

" ' Eh, parbleu, I will find it where it now is, 
there, before our eyes ; do you not see the goat?' 

" ' I do, but living.' 

" ' "Well, he must die, of course, to make it 
feasible.' 

" ' And what then ?' 

"'What! were you not a tailor before being 
a soldier?' 

" ' Yes.' 

" ' And I, a tanner; now, do j^ou comprehend.' 

"'I do.' 

"And thus, from a lauG^hino^ discussion of a 
project, at first sight stupid, and impossible to 
realize, we concluded by conspiring the death 
of the Fusileers' favorite, and engaged to com- 
bine our industrious talent, as tailor and tanner, 
for its success, leaving it to a trial of piquet to 
whom should belong the frock, when completed, 
for the fur would onl}^ sufS.ce for one. 

" It was arranged that we should singly seek to 
gain the confidence of the goat's keeper, and that 
he who first obtained access to the condemned 
animal should contrive to make him turn his 
eye aside, without exciting suspicion. 



172 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

"I was tlie first to attain to intimacy witli the 
keeper, thanks to a few English words which I 
jaspined agreeably enough, and to the French 
milk of onr cantineer. The English gentlemen 
have the politeness to style French milh^ our 
brandy, cognac^ tord-hoyaux^ fil en-quatre ; and 
well do they love this lait Francais I 

"I ruminated constantly upon the process by 
which our enterprise might be accomplished. I 
had free admission to the fold, and often re- 
mained alone with the victim, but hesitated as 
to the kind of death to choose. I wavered be- 
tween bleeding, strangulation, and poisoning. 

''Bleeding was scarcely practicable, for the 
wound resulting from it would betray me. 
Strangulation might probably succeed, but it 
must appear accidental, and as if caused by en- 
tans^lement in the thonsj that fastened the animal 
to his crib. It was dangerous. 

" Poison was the alternative. 

" The last crime made me smile. I knew that 
the English had so great a respect for the carnal 
envelope of those who are no more, that they 
never practice autopsy. There was, conse- 
quently, no apprehension of discovery after- 
wards ; but, where to procure the poison ? I 
consulted with my tanner, who reproached mj 
involuntary tardiness. 

" ' Well, what progress V 



KECOLLKCTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 173 

" ' Still at tlie same point.' 

'' ' I tliouglit you were in tlie good graces of 
tlie shepherd.' 

"'That is true; I often give a hand at rub- 
bing down, and remain alone with him, in the 
stable, at pleasure. I prolong my visits, iinder 
pretext of warming myself; in short, the beast, 
Fusileer, and I, form an inseparable trio. 

" ' That is a great step forward ; what do you 
decide upon?' 

" ' I am resolved to poison the goat.' ' 

" ' Bravo ! that alone can guarantee us against 
discovery of the cause of his death.' 

" ' I have calculated the chances of that, but 
am at a loss what poison to employ, and how to 
procure it.' 

" ' Ah ! if it were but spring,' he replied, ' it 
would only require a good armful of green tre- 
foil or fresh jarousse ! It would be all fair on 
our side, for he would die in making a last suc- 
culent repast.' • 

" ' If it were spring-time, we should leave this 
poor goat in his skin.' 

'"ParbleuP exclaimed he, suddenly, after 
long silence on both sides ; / have the stuff I I 
have the stuff P 

"'What stuff?' 

" ' You remember that I performed the func- 
tions of nurse at Gallipoli during the cholera.' 



174 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' Yes.' 

" 'I learned tlien liow to wield certain kinds 
of infirmary weapons. Can you, this evening, 
beguile the English Fusileer to our canteen, and 
detain him there for an hour ?' 

" ' Yes, for two, three — all night, if need be.' 

" ' Can you, at the same time, contrive that the 
door of the stable be left open, or if closed, pro- 
cure me the key ?' 

" ' Yes. The Fusileer, when going out, locks 
the door, but never carries the key; he sus- 
pends it to a nail on the inside, passing his 
hand through a cat-hole to the left of the door, 
aloft, beneath the ledge of the roof.' 

" ' Good.' 

" * Then take charge of the Fusileer this even- 
ing, and prepare for tanning the leather of the 
aforesaid goat.' 

" I obeyed my comrade. The faithful shep- 
herd passed the evening with me in a canteen, 
and did not return to his post till midnight, nor 
then, without the aid of my arm, so much did 
he enjoy guzzling the French milk. 

" What transpired in the stable during this 
long absence, you know ; but the catastrophe 
remains to the English enveloped in profound 
mystery. They still believe that it pleased the 
Creator of all things to recal this royal animal 
to Himself. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 175 

" The next morning, as tlie front line of the 
23d Fusileers was only a short distance from 
ours, and the goat's stable, the only wooden 
cabin of the vicinity, stood on our side, we 
perceived a crowd of soldiers grouped before the 
door, some hectoring and gesticulating, others 
crying, and none laughing. We approached 
inquisitively, and a soldier said to us in English, 

" ' He is dead 1' 

" ' Dead ! Who ? Lord Raglan,' 

'' ' Oh, no 1 The Queen's goat.' 

" We dissembled, my comrade and I, fearing 
to awake suspicion by manifesting excessive 
sympathy in the grief of the 23d. 

" Fortunately, our turn of watch at the trenches 
happened this day, and on the morrow we did 
not return to our tent until after the funeral 
ceremonies. 

" The defunct rested on the plateau of Inker- 
mann, in that field of carnage so well named 
abattoir^^ where already reposed so many brave 
soldiers of the Twenty-third. It only remained 
for us to disinter him, remove the skin, tan it, 
and cut out a garment after our pattern. 

"All this was executed without difficulty. 
At ten in the evening, in profound darkness, 
Valentine (my comrade's name) and I, armed 

* Slaiiffhter-hoTise. 



176 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

with spade and mattock, borrowed in passing 
the Engineer's depot, profaned the tomb of the 
ro3^al defunct. Yf e had no dread of surprise ; 
these latitudes, while in a state of actual seige, 
were only frequented by day, accordingly, we 
proceeded to clear the grave. They were in 
want of wood, the unfortunate English, v^ood to 
warm themselves and cook their supper, and yet 
they had found enough to construct a coffin I 
With one blow of the mattock, I made the top 
fly off; we descended into the grave— at each 
extremity — Yalentine lighted me with a piece 
of candle, as with a long gash of the knife, I 
ripped the said carcass. The skin was quickly 
removed by sacrificing the head and members, 
and I was about to leap ou.t of the pit, when 
Yalentine observed that it would not be amiss 
to abstract the coffin also, our allotment of fuel 
being nearly exhausted. The advice was not 
to be disdained. I, accordingly, capsized the 
lodgment, and passed it to Yalentine, who 
speedily made a bundle of it, while I threw back 
the earth upon the bare flesh of the ci-devant 
favorite of the Eusileers. 

" Then, we resume the road to our encamp- 
ment, Yalentine with his bundle on the shoulder, 
I with the skin under my arm. 

" You may well conceive that the most dan- 
gerous part of our enterprise happily executed. 



EECOiiLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 177 

it was not difficult for a tanner and tailor to con- 
summate' tlie matter; therefore, eight days after 
the exhumation, the skin was dried, prepared, 
and elastic as a glove. Yalentine transformed it 
into a pelisse, and we shuffled an old pack of 
greasy cards to decide which of us should enrich 
his wardrobe with it. I won ninety at the first 
throw, and became the fortunate proprietor of 
the magnificent garment you admired on me, 
aboard the Lady Jocelyn. When Valentine was 
on watch, I transferred it to him with pleasure. 
During my sojourn in camp, however, I was 
careful to wear the nap inside. 

' The memory of the goat was not so distant as 
to render the recognition of his white habili- 
ment improbable, and heaven knows what would 
have become of us, if the 23d Eoyal Fusileers of 
Wales had got wind of our sacrilege ! 

' ' The faithful shepherd, convicted of negligence, 
lost the favor of his Colonel ; he was expelled 
from the stable which he had occupied so com- 
fortably during the winter nights. They re- 
manded him to his regiment, but he incurred no 
other punishment ; thanks to the scientific con- 
clusions of a head veterinary, who pronounced 
the goat's death to have been caused by cerehral 
congestion. 

" What a fine thing human science is, with its 
learned perquisitions, to discover in the brain 



178 EECOLLECTIO^^S OF A ZOUAVE. 

what Valentine liad introduced into the bowels ! 
For, to confess the truth, he had clystered the 
goat with a syringe borrowed from the hospital, 
and charged with some kind of acid or other. 
The expedient was cruel, but it should be for- 
given us, in view of extenuating circumstances ; 
the goat was English, and we were suffering with 
cold. 

" It was not till quitting Kamiesh for Constan- 
tinople, that I had ever donned my white fleece 
in daylight. It was then that you saw it. The 
sea-breeze, or even a gale, only lifted its long 
nap, and I was enjoying its impervious warmth, 
promenading the deck of the Lady Jocelyn^ when 
an English of&cer, and actually a major of the 
23d Eoyal Fusileers of Wales, approached me 
and said, contemplating my over-coat with much 
attention — 

" ' Yery fine ! very fine I' 

"Smoked thought I, — I am smoked! But 
resolved to lie unto death, I replied coldly, con- 
tinuing my walk : 

" ' Yes, my Lord.' 

" ' A beautiful garment !' 

" ' Yes, my Lord.' 

" And as I walked on, he followed, adding — 

*' ' It resembles the skin of John-goat of my 
regiment.' 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 179 

" ' Yes, my Lord' — Ah, the game is up and 
what is to be done now, thought I?' 

" ' Will you sell me the garment for twenty 
pounds sterling?' 

" ' Yes, my Lord,' replied I, mechanically, at 
first. But on seeing him take from' his pocket a 
portfolio, open it, and select a paper oq which 
was written in large letters, twenty pounds, 
my composure returned, — I felt assured that 
the major had not recognized my victim, but 
that, exalted by a pious recollection, he wished 
to acquire what would recall to him, the lost 
gift of Her Grracious Majesty, Queen Victoria. 

" Accordingly, taking him at his word, I strip- 
ped off the goat-skin, and immediately exchanged 
it for this note of .500 halles. 

"The Spring being at hand, I henceforth 
dreaded the cold much less than want of money, 
and thus obeyed a decree of Providence permit- 
ting the relics of the goat to return to the hands 
of its original possessors." 

" The history of the white goat was treated as 
a fiction of the brain ; nothing, however, can be 
more true, both in foundation and facts. ISTot a 
detail is erroneous ; the goat did exist, he was 
interred, exhumed, and his skin really converted 
into a winter frock, and afterwards sold to a 
superior officer of the same regiment, who made 
the acquisition, because that the clean white nap 



180 EECOLLECnONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



recalled tliat of tlie rojal goats' beard. I affirm 
also, that tlie noble English greyhounds have 
been strangled and despoiled of their skins, to 
renew certain old drums of the line ; facts illus- 
trative of this assertion, transpired at Eupatoria. 
" You know that after our landing and march 
upon the Alma, the out-posts of Eupatoria were 
entrusted to a detachment of marine infantry. 
The military commissioner, in prevision of the 
future necessities of the army, then stated, that a 
large number of camels and Arahas^ (chariots) 
were disseminated through the courts and stables 
of the ancient Tartar city. In the month of 
March, they wished to put in requisition this 
chariot material, and the beasts of burden belong- 
ing to the inhabitants ; but all'had disappeared ; 
there were neither camels nor chariots, and yet 
there had been counted a hundred camels and 
as many chariots. What had become of them ? 
how was their disappearance to be accounted 
for? The sentinels on being interrogated, af- 
firmed, that since the commencement of the 
occupation, not a vehicle had left the place ; 
finally, however, after minute investigation, it 
was discovered, that during the privations of the 
past winter, the Tartars had consumed their 
camels in ratas and beefsteaks, and seeing this, 
the Turks, naturally concluding that the Tartars, 
without their camels, no lon2:er needed chariots, 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 181 

had transfarmed tliem into cotrets,* to make the 
pot boil and mitigate the severity of the winter. 

''^ Entre nous, we Turks and Tartars were not 
alone in this clandestine consumption, and the 
commissioners shut their eyes to escape the 
necessity of punishing the real culprits among 
the Anglo-French troops of the garrison. 

"^ebastopol, which we found it impossible to 
starve, was provisioned by very similar means; 
every day immense numbers of carts drawn by 
oxen, and loaded with munitions entered by the 
north side ; we occasionally saw from the heights 
of Clocheton, these great caravans defiling ; the 
Russians afterwards stored the provisions of the 
convoy, dispatched the carts, and slaughtered the 
beeves. This is not an economical proceeding ; 
but in the circumstances of a beseiged city it is 
simple and rational." 

* Short wood. 



182 EEGOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

CONVALESCENCE. — WOUNDED OF THE MALAKOFF. — COMRADE 
BERTHIER, — A NIGHT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. — WOUNDED 
PRISONERS. 

" The sojourn in tlie hospital began to weary 
me. Every five days, convalescents left it for 
France, and my turn was not yet come. Sister 
Prudence, now tliat I was nearly re-established, 
neglected me ; I no longer saw her but in the 
morning, and at hours of prayer ; she spent her 
time beside newly arrived martyrs. But, though 
regretting her former visits, I was willing to 
resign her for others more suffering than myself. 

"They at length announce my departure for 
France, to take place on the 27th, and we had 
only reached the 19th. I was enraged at not 
being permitted to stroll about Stamboul. Strict 
orders forbade it ; what a vexation ! Thus I shall 
have sojourned for more than three months in the 
capital of the Grand Turk, without knowing 
any thing in it, save that long, narrow, winding, 
hilly street leading from the port of Thopana to 
the great hospital of Pera. 

" The morning previous to my departure, there 
was a wonderful commotion in the hospital; 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 183 

tliej obliged all able to quit their beds, and de- 
part for Marseilles within two days, to pack at a 
moment's warning, and they penned us in the 
large magazines near by, to the number of two 
hundred. We were to await there the time of 
embarkation, with barrack-blankets for furni- 
ture, and campaign stores for rations. 

'"It would appear that something new has 
occurred before Sebastopol,' said some one, ' and 
hot, very hot work, too.' 

" In effect towards noon a procession of litters 
defiled in front of the hospital, and our beds 
were occupied, to the very last one, with 
wounded and mutilated ; some dejected, silent 
and nearly dead, others, and the greater number, 
blustering, garrulous, boastful and indifferent. 

"There are chasseurs, sailors, infantry of the 
line, Zouaves and troopers of the foreign legion. 
I seek a familiar countenance among them, but 
find none. Strangers, utter strangers, to me, all 
of them. I longed to obtain, from some of their 
members, tidings of my friends left below, but the 
infirmary sergeant intercepted my curiosity, and 
hastened to crowd the new comers into the wards. 
I had just determined to take a passing review 
of the St. Martha ward, under pretext of bidding 
farewell to Sister Prudence, when one of the last 
arrived, who appeared whole in limb, but whose 
physiognomy, enveloped in bloody bandages, 



18-1 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

was as invisible as if lie wore his turban on tlie 
face instead of his head, hailed me by name. The 
voice was so broken, that I failed to recognize it 
any more than the figure, and stood confounded, 
contemplating the speaker, and studying his 
identity. 

'"Friends are, then, no longer friends;' he 
resumed, making a thrust at me with a little 
osier cane. 

'"Ah, is it thou, Berthier,,my old comrade?' 

" ' Eh, yes, it is I.' 

" ' But I should never have discovered you 
under this masque of rags.' 

" ' That is because the sarhonne has been de- 
graded by the explosion of an infernal machine.' 

" ' And your voice is not the same as in past 
times, you have changed your mouth-piece.' 

" ' Ah ! it is permissible to have the wind-pipe 
fatigued after the concert of the 18th.' 

" ' The concert of the 18th.' 

" ' Aye, the Malakoff concert.' 

" At this instant, the infirmary sergeant would 
have obliged Berthier to repair to bed ; but we 
supplicated ]iim so earnestly to leave us together 
for a few minutes longer, that he was softened, 
and allowed us to adjourn to the Porter's 
canteen. 

" ' We know nothing of what is passing, at the 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 185 

hospital,' said I to Bertliier, 'have you taken 
Malakoff?' 

"'Alas! no, my poor friend, we liave not 
taken Malakoff, but we took the resolution of 
retiring after having entered it. And we now 
know the road thither.' 

" 'Did the regiment gain it for you?' 

" ' Did it gain it ? Ah, I can well testify that. 
It gained it, exposed to showers of Eussian grape, 
and if you could have seen us, darting through 
the five hundred metres that separate our parallel 
from the ditch of the curtain, you would have 
said, " not one will reach the point." ' 

" ' It must have been a noble sight !' 

" ' Noble indeed.' 

" ' And I was not there ! What ill luck.' 

" ' Those who witnessed not this affair, have 
seen nothing. 

" ' Bullets, musket-shots and balls came flying 
through the air, crossing and intersecting each 
other, so countless, incessant and rapid, as to 
form a thicket of grape-shot, which it was as 
impossible to penetrate without being struck, as 
to penetrate a wooden thicket without being 
scratched by the branches. 

" ' And the comrades in the van fell, fell — and 
those who came next, striding across the dead 
bodies of the first, still fell ! so with others that 
followed ; and this human tide, a tide without 



186 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

reflux, pushed onward toward Malakoff, falling, 
falling, still falling ! And, as tlie regiment 
diminished, mown down, file after file, but— un- 
derstand you, mown down pressing onward ; 
not recoiling ; never recoiling. ^ * * 

" ' Ah, thou lookest intently on me, trumpeter! 
thy grey eye flashes ; thou bitest the lip and 
hand on the moustache; stiflest a deep sigh; 
maddened that thou wert not there to sound the 
onset with thy martial ring ! 

"'And my comrade Fritcher. Did he not 
sound a noble charge ?' 

" ' Aye ! and now — ' 

"'And now!' 

" ' Now, he sounds in the regiment on high.' 

'"Poor Fritcher!' 

" ' Dead, dead ! cut in two by a bullet ; dying, 
longing, like thee, again to sound the onset; 
emptying his last, his dying sigh, into his 
trumpet !' 

" ' And the corporal, so careful of his skin 
since the first of January ?' 

" ' He has made the amende honorable ; he has 
reinstated himself : one of the first to leap into 
the great Malakoff trench, he there remains.' 

" 'And the lieutenant whose trowser. I 
grazed?' 

Ah, he had no chance; he died in bed; 



a i 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 187 

never quitting the ambulance which you saw 
him enter.' 

" ' And yourself?' 

" ' But a trifle ; five or six contusions and as 
many scratches ; a bagatelle, which will not 
augment the attractions of my physiognomy, 
but which will still leave me enough to excite 
hopeless love.' 

" ' So, your calabash is not cracked ?' 

" 'JSTo, thank heaven.' 

"'But you do not tell me how you were 
wounded?' 

" ' You will imagine that we Zouaves were 
not less eager to set foot in the Malakoff tower, 
than a foot-battalion and various other regiments 
of the line. " Forward, Jackals ./" cried the cap- 
tain, marching at our head, brandishing his sword, 
" Forward !" and we followed in good order, 
until a ball struck him in the breast, just as he 
scaled a hillock of slain ; we falter an instant ; 
only an instant, — nay, less than a half-second ; 
but he partly raised himself, one hand on the 
ground for support, and with the other waving 
his sword, again crying, " Forward [ Forward, 
Zouaves!" expired ! We then resolve to descend 
into the ditch, at whose foot stood ladders against 
the curtain, and pitiless, without trying to catch 
his last breath, we pass over him, ambitious to 



188 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

plant OTir banner beside tlie one wb.icli already 
floats from the tower. 

" ' I found myself near tbe bead of onr column, 
and even thus early in tbe conflict, confounded in 
tbe last ranks of battalions of tbe line and com- 
panies of Chasseurs, who had forced the entrance 
of Malakoff, when a formidable explosion burst 
suddenly before, behind, every where around, 
levelling and stunning me so completely, that 
from that moment until evening, I was conscious 
of nothing, combat, retreat, of my very existence. 
I had slept, undisturbed by the din of the fusillade, 
and awoke, tortured by unearthly sufferings, to 
the echo of groans near by. 

" ' Where was I ? Stretched in blood, and 
couched upon the dead, themselves lying on other 
dead. My head so heavy and inert that I could 
not raise it to reconnoitre, even had not heaps 
of gory men, mutilated and gashed, barred the 
view. I disengaged my right arm from beneath 
a Russian grenadier, and as if the dead near me 
were in living sleep, I essayed to awaken such as 
I could reach with my hand, shaking them as 
rudely as the remnant of my strength would 
permit. Not one stirred." 

'"Were you then deprived of reason, or in a 
state of somnambulism ?" 

" ' ISTo, neither one nor the other ; but I was for 
the time devoid of memory. I recollected 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 189 

noTigtit of tlie recent coDflict; nor believed my- 
self lying on a battle-field. My bead felt cold, 
and baving lost my cecbia,^ I uncoiffed a com- 
rade witbin my reacb. But tben I learned wby 
my bead appeared so beavy, it was swollen ex- 
cessively, inflamed by contusions, and could 
not enter tbe fez, elastic as it was. 

" ' I tben passed my fingers tbrougb my bair, 
wbicb was matted witb blood, toucbed my brow 
and cbeeks, and ascertained gasbes of numerous 
deep wounds, tbe edges mucb distended, and 
about wbicb, buzzed, already, large voracious 
flies. 

" ' I was perfectly conscious of life, but knew 
not yet wbetber power to walk remained. At 
lengtb, by degrees, extricating my legs from a 
beap of slain, I sounded my capability. God be 
praised! I bad no wound in my limbs, and 
resolved to rise, and endeavour to gain tbe 
camp. 

"'It seemed about tbree in tbe afternoon. 
A profound silence reigned around, and yet 
I was very sure of baving beard groans on 
awaking. I raised myself painfully, leaning on 
botb bands, wben, two paces from me, I per- 
ceived an individual lying on bis back, and 
wbom from bis stillness, I bad believed dead, re- 

* Red cap. 



190 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

gar ding me intently, and moving liis lips as if 
to say : 

"'Silence!" 

"'I instinctively compreliended that it would 
be dangerous to stand erect, and crawled softly 
near him. 

" ' If you wish to be made prisoner at a 
cheap rate, you have only to give signs of life," 
whispered he. " They are there, twenty paces 
distant, picking up the imbecile recruits who are 
making such lamentations." 

'"Scarcely had he finished speaking when we 
heard a dying voice near us exclaimiag, " Help, 
help !'' Then, as if by an echo, these words, 
help, help, reverberated a little farther off; and 
at our feet, another personage, a chasseur, mur- 
mured, rattling, " Drink I drink !" 

" ' Hark !' resumed the monitor, ' feign death. 
Behold them ! they are descending the bank.' 

" In effect, a dozen Russians led by a Serjeant, 
presently arrive in search of the groaners. I 
saw them through a corner of my eyelid ; they 
passed near me, and one of them stumbling 
against my thigh, and nearly falling, gave me a 
violent kick. I received it unmurmuringly, be 
assured. They gather up all the poor devils 
that had cried for succour, and bear them off. I 
must acknowledge, they did not brutalize them 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 191 

extremely, carrying tTiem by the feet and shoul- 
ders. 

" The curtain-ditch was deep ; but they took 
a circuitous route, and passed into a place where 
the earth-sacks, fragments of all kinds, crowned 
by heaps of slain, filled it nearly to the top. 

" Before taking their departure, the Eussians 
searched the garments of several dead bodies, 
principally those with galoon or epaulettes ; they 
knew very well, too, how to abstract the goose- 
nech from the Zouaves, hidden beneath the vest- 
lining, as we, on similar occasions, do the purse 
they wear attached to the calf. Ah ! the bri- 
gands. 

" The little foot-chasseur again crying, ' drink, 
drink ! for pity, a little water, only one drop ;' 
had a watch, whose chain glittered outside his 
jacket; the Serjeant -unbooked it, applied the 
fob-pendulum to his ear, and satisfied with the 
tickiug of the bassinoire, plunged it into his 
pocket. 

"'Drink! drink!' unceasingly repeated the 
Chasseur, and they disappeared, while I could 
still hear his voice, more and more indistinct, 
continuing to cry, 'Drink! drink !' 

" The fact is, I too, was horribly thirsty, thirsty 
as you were when we were at the English can- 
teen, the evening your pinion was damaged. 
But not such a fool as to call the hoy ! I believe, 



192 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 

however, that I should have yielded to the temp- 
tation, had not the neighbor who had instructed 
me to feign death, supported my courage by his 
example. 

" We could talk in a low tone, without fear of 
being betrayed, but not venture the slightest 
movement, and still less, endeavor to rise ; the 
sentinels, peering every instant over the bank of 
the curtain, would have discovered us. 

" At this instant, rifle shots resounded on the 
side of Peresype. As we lay on a height within 
view of that part of the battle-field, a glance in 
the direction suf&ced to show us brave French 
troopers, darting at gymnastic pace, outside our 
parallels, and in the very face of the Kussians, 
and amid a shower of balls, bearing off the 
wounded that survived the carnage of the 
morning.* 

"'We must await the armistice, which will 
not be until the morrow,' said my neighbor. 
' We are too near Kerniloff for them to come in 
search of us.' 

" 'But is there no chance of returning to our 
lines under cover of night ?' 

" ' Possibly so, for you — not for me — I am 
minus a foot.' 

" 'I feel my pins in good condition, I added, 
I will carry you on my back.' 

* Historic. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 193 

" ' You are humane towards me, altliougli we 
are of different corps. I will accept your offer, 
and we will make the trial; and jouareriglit to 
accost the sentinels at the trenches by night, for 
in day -light you would frighten them.' 

" ' What do you say ?' 

" ' I say that the sentinel, seeing you coming 
towards him, might be seized with terror, and 
take to flight.' 

" ' Wherefore ?' 

" ' Because, if you could behold yourself in a 
mirror, my poor friend, you would not believe it 
reflected Berthier. What a horrible physiog- 
nomy ! your head resembles a huge piece of raw 
meat, having the gift of speech.' 

" We thus chatted to kill time, but how cruelly 
long it seemed to us ! The sun, at length, went 
down behind the sea-coast, the heat gradually 
diminished, and the freshness of evening brought 
a slight alleviation to my sufferings. Had there 
been fewer flies, which never sleep till night, I 
should have been comparatively at ease. 

" ' Come, comrade ! en route P said I, softly, to 
the foot-soldier, raising myself, stretching my 
limbs, and seeking a fulcrum on that slippery 
litter of dead bodies, ' en route ! en route /' he re- 
peated mechanically, and as if out of a long sleep, 
* en route P And extending his hands, which I 
grasped in mine, and propping myself against 



194: KECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the back of a stout Engineer sapper, I strove to 
lift him from the ground. But my head became 
dizzj, and we fell back ; I again insensible, he, 
as he has since assured me, with a cry of pain so 
sharp and poignant, that the Eussians heard it, 
and issued from the curtain to make him pri- 
soner. He once more escaped, by his coolness 
in feigning death, while I owed my liberty to 
the swoon. 

" I had been premature in estimating my 
strength ; not only was it impossible for me to 
bear the comrade on my shoulders, but I could 
not even stand erect; the alternative was there- 
fore to await the sounding of the armistice. 

" What a night ! oh, what a night of torture ! 
I now think that I must have dreamed the suf- 
ferings of that night ! I had ridiculed the unfor- 
tunates who had complained so bitterly of thirst, 
and had rendered themselves prisoners for a 
drop of water ! Well 1 had the Eussians re- 
turned that night within my reach, I, too, should 
have surrendered, so intense was the thirst ! 
My hand, groping about, chanced upon a 
rifle, and I licked the drops of dew that moist- 
ened the butt end ; the fever, fortunately, de- 
livered me from hunger. Though the flies 
ceased buzzing in my ears, I could hear the 
whizzing of birds of prey ; the growling of dogs 
making a repast, the noise of bones cracking and 



ItECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 195 

tearing asunder, in tlie midst of that human 
cliarnel-liouse where I was prisoner. And 
when I asked myself if I did not dream, or was 
not a prey to delirium, the distant roll of cannon 
on the left, the light of a bomb in the sky, and 
the dialogues of the Eussian sentinels, would 
bring me back to the reality. 

" ' Comrade, what time is it,' demanded I of 
the foot-soldier. 

" He did not reply. 

" ' The night is very long,' I added. 

" He still answered me not a word. ' Heavens, 
what an infernal night for summer time ! Tell 
me, what time is it, I conjure you.' 

" ' Have you finished ?' crustily answered my 
companion ; ' better to ask the hour of the sen- 
tinel who took possession of the chasseur's watch- 
fob.' 

" I once more became silent, indignant at his 
rudeness ; but my impatience redoubling, I again 
exclaimed : 

" ' When will it be dawn ? tell me, I entreat, 
when will it be dawn ?' 

'' ' Eh ! there has been broad daylight for an 
hour.' 

" ' Impossible.' 

" ' The sky is blue and the sun shining.' 

' ' ' You are hoaxing me.' 

" ' What beautiful weather for the armistice ?' 



196 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' You dream ; it is still niglit.' 

" ' Are you blind ?' he exclaimed, and now in 
a tone full of compassion. 

"'Blind! ali, yes, I am blind; my eyes are 
open and it is still dark.' 

" And I rubbed my lids and strove to lift tbe 
partition-curtain tbat interposed between my eye- 
balls and tbe ligbt, but strove in vain, and re- 
gardless of the proximity of tbe Eussians, was 
about to abandon myself to despair, to curse 
aloud my unfortunate lot, when suddenly tbe 
trumpet proclaiming a truce, reverberated along 
our lines. 

" ' At last !' murmured the infantry soldier. 

'"At last!' echoed I. 

" You know the design of an armistice, and 
how it is occupied. Troops form a line outside 
our seige-works. The greater number of our 
valiant soldiers fell on the domain of the beseiged. 
They, therefore, performed the part of raising 
the slain, and depositing them, as well as the 
wounded, in the middle of the neutral ground, 
stretching between our lines and those of the 
enemy. It is there that our soldiers came to seek 
them, and from thence did I set out, and guided 
and supported by two soldiers, dragged myself 
to the ambulance. 

" Three days had elapsed, brother, and I medi- 
tated the precautionary step of getting a poodle, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 197 

that Providence of the blind, when day before 
yesterday, on awaking in the morning, I had the 
happiness of again seeing clearly, and being able 
to contemplate in a mirror neiv embellishments 
of my physiognomy. The eyes, happily, were 
safe and sound ; the blood extravasated by the 
contusions, had only obstructed them temporarily, 
or very likely I should have been the victim of 
an accident which our physicians do not yet 
fully explain. Men sleeping in the open night 
air, are stricken on awaking with complete blind- 
ness, which, fortunately, subsides after a few 
days, without any treatment. Such, brother, is 
the cause of my presence in this place ; it grieves 
me that you are departing just as I arrive. I 
was anxious to remain in the ambulance at head- 
quarters, to re-enter the campaign as soon as prac- 
ticable, for it appears that we are ere long to have 
another crack at these Malakofi' gentlemen ; but 
the major pretends that the skin of my sorhonne 
will not re-unite for a month, and ordered me 
to evacuate my berth for others more seriously 
wounded than myself." 

" With these words, Berthier left me to follow 
the infantry officer, who re-entered the ward, 
after having swallowed several glasses of Chio- 
mastic to our future good health." 



198 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTER X. 

WHY I AM A TRUMPETER. — THE GLORY OP THE OFFICE. — SNOW- 
STORM. THE NIGHT OF SHROYE-TUESDAY. 

" I AM often asked why I became a trumpeter ; 
wherefore, as a volunteer, and witli instruction 
enough to attain the rank of an officer, I had not 
followed the route ordinarily pursued by my 
comrades. 

" Well ; my reply is that I scarcely know. I 
engaged like many others, irresistibly carried 
away by pursuit of novelty. I set out with 
buoyant heart and head, exalted by ambi- 
tion of glory ; but arrived in Africa, was 
promptly disgusted at being assigned to bar- 
racks, in quality of aspirant to the quarter- 
master's post, in the Major's bureau. One day, 
indulging the bitterest home-sickness, I chanced 
to confide my discontent to the good Fritcher, 
trumpeter for a year past ; he seemed so gay 
and happy as to elicit an inquiry on my part, as 
to the method of attaining the same cheerful 
mood. 

" ' The secret is here, entirely,' he replied, 
' pointing to his trumpet.' 

" ' Then give me lessons on the clarion.' 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 199 

'' ' Oh, I did not saj it sufficed to iinderstand 
performance on the clarion to be happy in service. 

" ' Yet you affirm that the secret of your hap- 
piness and gaiety lies within that brass instru- 
ment.' 

" ' I say the secret is there ; not in the clarion 
alone, but in the functions appertaining to it.' 

" ' Explain to me your theory.' 

" ' To what purpose. — It would avail nothing.' 

" ' Probably it might.' 

" ' You are too literary, and too much of a 
Parisian,' 

" ' But I am unhappy, and seek relief.' 

" ' Be patient, and like many others, you will 
end by adoring the profession.' 

" ' I think not.' 

" ' When you attain woolen tassels, you will 
wish for gold-lace, and after that, be ambitious 
of an epaulette. It is the common history of 
martyrs ; — and will be yours.' 

" ' No, Fritcher, no ; such is my disgust at 
this African country, where there is no glory to 
be gained, that I renounce advancement and am 
ready to die of ennui.' 

" ' Buy a substitute.' 

" ' Piastres are lacking.' 

" ' So miich the worse.' 

" ' Too true, my friend.' 

" ' I know it by experience.' 



200 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" ' Well, tell me, then, in what consists this 
secret.' 

'"It is in the trumpet. Have you an inten- 
tion of becoming Marshal of France ?' 

"'No.' 

" ' General.' 

" ' No.' 

" ' Colonel.' 

" ' No.' 

" ' Captain.' 

" ' No.' 

" ' Lieutenant, Ensign.' 

" ' No, no.' 

" ' You only wish, then, to fulfil your seven 
years, as if marrying for that term.' 

" ' Yes.' 

" ' To return home with your gaiters white, 
leggings yellow, vest of deep blue, breeches Tur- 
key red, turban green, and cechia the color of 
blood.' 

" ' Ah, yes, Mon Dieu.' 

" 'Well, become a trumpeter, and you shall 
be gay and happy as I:' 

"'Is that the whole theory,' said I to him, 
rather disappointed. 

'"It is, and since it brings me happiness, it 
must be a good one.' 

" ' It requires a sorcerer to elucidate it.' 

" ' No more than it requires one to be happy. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 201 

" ' Come, come,' resumed Fritciier, after an in- 
terval of gruff silence, ' will you agree witli me 
that dreams of ambition cause the discontent of 
the majority of active and intelligent young 
troopers among us ?' 

" ' I grant it.' 

" ' Well, in becoming a trumpeter, you forever 
stifle that ambition. And the highest grade in 
our profession is that of Chief Trumpeter. Am- 
bitious dreams cannot, therefore, torment us, and 
we enjoy the privilege of being happy.' 

" Fritcher convinced me, and thus it is that I 
am a trumpeter. The instruction was dif&cult 
and repugnant, but once regularly installed as 
trumpeter, I enjoyed many prerogatives not to 
be disdained, especially in campaign. 

" Never employe, in the kitchen, nor in the 
corvee, it is I, in fact, who command. What 
would be the orders of our chief's without the 
charge ? 

" When I think of all that my trumpet has 
commanded of grand and heroic, during this 
siege, I feel a noble pride, and am vain of my 
gallooned vest; — I look upon the humble func- 
tions fulfilled as lofty and elevated ; six hundred 
pieces of Eussian cannon, thundering at once ; 
musketry bursting from their fortifications in 
one continuous gamut, and projectiles passing 
near me, above my head, on my right, at my 

14= 



202 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

left ; the roar of bullets and whizzing of balls ; 
the crash of bombs and explosion of shells ; all 
this has never silenced my .trumpet, when, oppo- 
site a battery or enemy's ambuscade to be 
stormed, I have sounded the charge ! ! I 

"Yes, though I, now no longer in service, say 
it, howsoever modest the position he occupy in 
an army, every soldier may have his day, his 
hour, when the grand role is his. 

" And have I not had my glory, a calm and 
personal glory, when hidden at night within my 
gourhij in my burrow ; as scout trumpeter j I have 
watched alone at the head of the workmen, ready 
to sound the garde a vous,^ if the enemy should 
appear ; — ^the rappel^-f if he advanced ;— the as- 
semhlee,j^ if he issued by thousands from his 
stronghold ; and eri avaunt^% if we must attack 
and exterminate him. 

" How many comrades, I have reflected in 
these solemn movements, how many comrades 
abandon the care of watching for their safety, to 
my vigilance and to the vigor of my blast ! They 
wield the mattock while I keep silence; but 
quickly, ay, full quickly, would they exchange 
that mattock for a rifle, should I but cast 
upon the night-wind the shrill notes of the 
alarm. 

* Be on your guard. f Roll-call. 

% Drum-tap. ^ Forward ! 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 203 

" Alas ! I have "watcTied, watched with sleep- 
less eye, but watched in vain; — I could not 
stay the balls, that, guided through the dark- 
ness by the finger of God, struck, the work- 
man advancing, bent to the ground, to place 
a gabion or a sack of earth — and he who 
follows, the one that conies after, and still another, 
— all arriving, one by one, to die one by one ; 
even till a wall of earth-sacks and gabions rises 
where the engineer has outlined the base ! 

"And shall I vaunt of my bravery, when, 
during those long hours of night-watch, I have 
shuddered in counting these four scenes of a vivid 
drama, ending and recommencing, each instant, 
behind me — the stroke of the pick-axe on the 
rock, the whizzing of a ball, then a cry of pain, 
a death-groan, and silence ! 

"The African campaigns, where for three 
years, I learned my metier of soldier, the com- 
bats of Jurgura ; the conflicts with the Kabyles 
and Fittas, the surprises, snares, marches, coun- 
ter-marches, bird-flight halts, all that war of de- 
tails in fine, provoke less emotion, test less a 
man's courage, and are less fertile in events than 
a trench-watch before Sebastopol, though that 
watch endure but twenty -four hours, and a cam- 
paign in Algeria as many days and weeks. 

" What do I say ? — twenty -four hours ? There 
should be added to these twentyfour hours the 



204 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

time consumed in repairing tMtlier, and in 
returning to the city — fhe camp — sometimes many 
kilometres distant; and so frequently do tlie 
turns of watch, revolve, that, in fact, one 
night out of three is spent in a hole — a ditch, 
often full of water or mud, wliere it is forbidden 
to light a fire for defence against the cold, and 
wliere we have not even the privilege of smoking 
a bouffarde."^ 

There, in darkness, the back supported by tlie 
gabions or parapet, feet on a heap of pebbles for 
a stool, hand upon the rifle, there must we fight 
against sleep, and be ready to start up at the first 
warning of the sentry. 

" This winter we had to contend with rain and 
frost — wo to us when they came nnawares ! If 
rain fell, the cold was endurable, the temperature 
relaxing ; but after rain we had mud to the 
elbows, and as soon as the cold began to sting 
sharply, that mud congealed, and our legs with 
it, so that men have been seen powerless to issue 
from that sheath of ice without the aid of his 
comrades and their pickaxe. We were then in 
a situation similar to that of the troopers of the 
Eepublic, in a sketch of Charlet or Kaffet. 
They are in ambuscade in the middle of a marsh, 
up to their knees in water, and the sergeant say- 



ripe. 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 205 

ing to them, * You are forbidden to smoke, sing, 
or gossip, but you are permitted to seat yourselves. 

" The most terrible night of this winter,! well 
remember, was that of Shrove-Tuesday, 20th of 
of February — a real polar night. The battalions, 
who were to have descended into the plain of 
Tchernaye to dislodge a Russian division, could 
not effect that manoeuvre, and many trench- 
guards passed from their posts to the ambulances 
with frozen limbs. I was in the expedition com- 
manded by General Bosquet. Our battalion 
marched at the head of the column, and I at the 
head of the battalion, with my comrade Fritcher. 

" The preliminary of arming had taken place 
at midnight; soup had been served at half-past 
eleven, and at midnight we moved, with a strong 
reinforcement from the surviving portion of the 
English army. The night was partially dark, with 
no moon, but lighted by numberless stars — those 
winter stars, which shine so icily on a deep blue 
ground, and threatened with extinction by huge 
masses of black clouds, blown across the horizon 
by a north-westerly wind. The cold was sharp, 
and the ground consequently in a fit state for 
marching. We advanced, therefore, from hill to 
ravine, and ravine to hill, rapidly, but with mouth 
shut and with no more noise than naturally 
makes the great trees of the forest of Franktir, 
when the breeze stirs the branches. 



206 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" I carried the trumpet under my left arm-pit, 
my turban for a comfort and hood over the 
cechia, as also did my comrade Fritcher. 

" All promised well at the beginning of the 
march ; but in an hour, the stars were suddenly 
eclipsed behind the massy clouds, spreading and 
ascending upward ; the blue sky disappeared, 
the wind commenced to blow tempestuously, and 
a snow, at first small and light, then thick and 
heavy, falls fast, and in less than ten minutes, the 
ground is level and white, and the track lost. 

" There was no time to waver or flinch ; we 
must instantly retrace our steps. The Eussians, 
not less embarassed than we by the snow-storm^ 
were not able to pursue us. 

" Bosquet, now commanded : ' Trumpeter, sound 
the retreat I' and the signal reverberates through 
every battalion of the column ; but so impene- 
trable was the darkness, the whirlwinds of snow 
so blinding, that it was impossible to discern 
our respective encampments ; and arrived on the 
plateau, we must there await the dawn. Here, 
on this plateau, where we should all have 
perished with cold, had not the General pro- 
hibited a moment's breathing-space, we were 
ordered to execute marches and counter -marches, 
in circles and semi-circles, to the right flanh^ and 
to the left^ gymnastic races, in fine, a continual 
series of evolutions, for fear that inclination to 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 207 

sleep sliould overpower us witli deatli-torpor — 
What a beautiful snow-shroud, by morning, would 
have covered the dead bodies of ten thousand 
soldiers! Thus did the energetic will of our 
General preserve us from a great disaster; similar 
accidents did occur, fractions of troops, wander- 
ing bewildered till day-light, lost several strag- 
glers benumbed with cold, but that was nothing 
in comparison with the catastrophe with which 
we were menaced ! At six o'clock, we regained 
the camp. On arriving in front of my tent, I 
said to comrade Fritcher, ' go before ;' he refused 
my politeness ; insisting on giving me prece- 
dence, which I also declined ; true, the politeness 
on my side was somewhat interested, as the first 
to enter would clear the three feet of snow piled 
before the door' of the boudoir — we united our 
efforts and there was soon a passage made ; but 
think of the descent of the Clocheton thermo- 
meter ! the canvass of the door- way, fastened with 
cords and eyelets to the frame, was frozen as 
well as the rest, and so hard that a pistol-ball 
would have rebounded from it as from a shoot- 
ing plate — Alexander Fritcher, my comrade, 
cut the gordian knots with his sabre, and the 
portiere"^ was opened. 

" This cold and snowy night was succeeded by 
one rather milder. 

* Coacli door. 



208 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" A thousand men of our regiment received 
orders to march at eleven in the evening. The 
colonel commanded us; we were divided into 
twelve platoons, and to be reinforced by five 
hundred marine infantry awaiting us in the 
Anglo-French camp. The object was to destroy 
a fortification executed by the Eussians in front 
of the Careenage port. 

"At midnight we quitted the lines for the 
second parallel, and the two battalions took 
a position behind large palisades of the 
parallel, one to the right, the other to the left ; 
the marines in the centre. At half past one 
in the morning, order came to leave the parallel : 
we issued forth in two columns and by sections ; 
I marched beside Colonel Clerc, who led the 
right column thus arranged : 

" A van-guard twenty paces in advance, a 
second company fifty paces behind the first, and 
the other constituting a reserve. 

" The left column, similarly organized, moved 
forward, under the orders of Commander Dar- 
bois ; but taking the wrong route in setting out, did 
not rejoin us till later. 

" The night was extremely dark, not less dark 
.than the preceding, when the snow storm envel- 
oped us. The Eussians stood upon the defensive. 
Numerous ambuscades protected the wall, which 
in this place, extended along the Sebastopol road, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 209 

and troops, massed in squares, were stationed 
between ttie wall and a strong battery, recently 
constructed, 

" We arrived on tlie line of the ambuscades, with- 
out receiving a single musket ball ; our van-guards 
crossed them peaceably, and we were already 
wondering whether these Messieurs were asleep 
or in quarters, when on flank and front, almost 
muzzle to muzzle, burst forth a rattle of mus- 
ketry, in the midst of a splendid illumination, 
and radiations of Bengal rockets. 

" What a festival I the Russian reflectors and 
fire-pots to illuminate us ! so much the better ; 
we shall see clearly how to combat ; we know 
whence the shots come, and we can render them 
ball for ball ! Here on the left, the discharge is 
more intense than elsevfhere ; we fall upon the 
left, and silence the rattle. 

" The Colonel has no need to command a charge 
on the left ; our column voluntarily performed that 
manoeuvre, and in a few seconds there remained 
not a single Russian in the ambuscades. The 
ambuscades on the right still stood firm. 

" Our second column, which, as I have before 
said, took a wrong route in departing, now enters 
bravely into the line. But while we are crushing 
the ambuscades, the van-guard companies, whom 
the Russians had suffered to pass without firing 
a shot, continued to march onward, and arrived 



210 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

at tlie squares of troops, massed in front and on 
the sides of tlie fortifications vfe wished to 
subvert. 

" There a silent combat ensued, a combat 
where they were thrust through the heart with 
the bayonet, or felled to the earth by the butt- 
end of muskets; but still did our companies 
press forward. In the mean time, Greneral Monet, 
with his marine infantry, reaches the head of the 
ambuscades still holding out, and there receives 
five wounds. 

"It is 'then that he resigns the command into 
the hands of our officer, Colonel Clerc. The 
colonel, disentangling himself from the ambus- 
cades, resolves to sound the breast-works. He 
entrusts the attack on the right, to Commander 
Lacretelle, that of the left to Darbois, and at the 
head of several companies, rushes towards the 
intrenchment ditch, crosses it, scales the parapet, 
and leaps inside the works. 

" I followed in the capacity of trumpeter, and 
I promise you, not without hearty good-will. 
Comrades of the right and left were not more re- 
luctant, and entered on their respective sides as 
we had done in the centre. 

"But the fire of the Eussian battalions, in 
serried ranks upon the gorge of the intrench- 
ments, crushed our foremost troops. Seven 
officers, two adjutants and numerous lieutenants 



RECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 211 

fall, and our position becomes most critical ; the 
Colonel tlien orders us to place ourselves on the 
bank, between the ditch and the talus of the 
parapet. 

" Why, when we had so valiantly carried the 
entrenchment, why did not some battalions of 
fresh troops come to support and consolidate our 
victory ? The Eussians quickly recovered their 
sang-froid, on perceiving that the 2nd Zouaves 
was decimated, and deprived of half its officers, 
and best soldiers ; they count us, and instead of 
flying down the slopes in the direction of the 
town, pour, right to left, from the works, to make 
a complete investment. 

" Surrounded ! We are surrounded I The 
colonel commands us to enter the ditch of the 
fortification, which was not more than a metre in 
depth, and bordered on the country side by a row 
of gabions. It was a tomb dug in advance for us. 
We shall die there to the last one rather than 
surrender ! 

" But no need of swearing to die sooner than 
surrender; the oath is superfluous. Is it not 
always understood among us, Zouaves, that we 
never surrender ? Where, then, the necessity of 
swearing ? 

" Behold us now taking refuge in the ditch, 
and the Eussian battalions shooting us at plea- 
sure. We can only give a partial return, for the 



212 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

darkness is impenetrable, and we must await the 
flash of their rifles to take aim, and bring down 
the boldest, busy casting stones and gabions 
upon us. 

"Meanwhile, the retreat has twice sounded 
from our line, and the Colonel at length deter- 
mines to come out of this ditch. He waves a 
signal that he wishes to speak ; we listen, and he 
cries : 

" ' I am unwilling to give the Eussian brigands 
the satisfaction of parading a Colonel of Zouaves 
through the empire of Eussia ; better to die ! — 
follow me !' 

" And we rush forth from the ditch, and pro- 
tected by Almighty Grod, cross the Eussian line 
through a shower of grape-shot, and re-enter our 
trenches. 

" I verily believe, the Eussians, stupefied by 
such boldness, permitted us to pass ! 

"Behold the chances of fate! That night I 
saw hundreds fall around me, and did not receive 
a scratch, and another time, in a petty skirmish, 
am dangerously wounded ! 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 213 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE TRENCHES.— THE CLOCHETON-HOUSE.— MADEMOISELLE'S 

CAT. 

" I RETURN to the trenclies. 

'' I have heard it said, that even those conver- 
sant with the art of sieges, can form no idea of 
our batteries, trenches and parallels— that gigan- 
tic and untiring work, which we have executed, 
inch by inch, before Sebastopol. 

" I had assisted at only one operation of the 
kind in my military career — the siege of Zaatcha ; 
and what a difference ! I doubt even, whether, 
in all the sieges, modern or ancient, from Troy 
to Silistria, the history of war has ever recounted 
one similar to this of the second fortress of the 
Eussian Empire. 

" I had no comprehension of the sinuosities, 
turns, comphcated labyrinths of the furrows, dug 
around the place by our workmen's mattocks, 
till after having frequently traversed them on 
my way to the ambuscades, and minutely studied 
them whenever on watch at the parallels, or of 
the planton at the Clocheton-House, the head- 
quarters of the Major of the trenches, the cen- 
tre whence issue all orders relative to the works. 



214: EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 

and wliere converge all intelligence or reports 
from the various points of attack. Bnt I am far 
from pretending to a minute acquaintance with 
the countless meshes of that net-work, extending 
day by day, and soon to imprison the entire city. 

" A soldier, in my position, could only really see 
what was immediately before his eyes. To the 
Commander-in-chief alone, belonged the faculty 
of embracing the whole in his province ; to me, 
therefore, only fragments of the work could be 
practically known, and these, hourly changing 
aspect, would, even had I not been since an inva- 
lid, be now not recognizable. I speak, then, 
only of what existed in my time, and of such as 
were within my view. 

" This Clocheton-House, where often at night 
have I sounded the garde a vous, owes its escape 
from demolition, at the same time with the num- 
berless villas scattered amid the gardens and 
vineyards of Chersonesus, to its situation. 

"The soup-fire, this winter, coveted in vain 
its timber ; an asylum and bureau for dis- 
patch of orders were indispensable, and the habi- 
tation was respected. But every superfluous 
piece of wood was lopped off, shutters were voted 
unnecessary and burned, as well as many doors 
of the interior. 

" Apropos to this poverty of combustibles, I 
remember that, when vines and roots were 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 215 

exliaiTsted, the Zephyrs conceived the bright idea 
of boiling their coffee with the plank of onr sacks. 
The army adopted this proceeding, and soon our 
sacks, deprived of their firm wooden frames, 
resemble those flat, shapeless knapsacks — those 
old doa:-skin haluchons — of the volunteers of '98. 
" A Protestant priest inhabited the Clocheton 
before the war, residing there with his daughter 
and her cat. The father and daughter removed 
on our arrival, carrying with them a part of their 
furniture ; the cat remained. The daughter was 
young, tall, and very handsome it was said, 
though no one among us had ever seen her. The 
cat is black. The din of the cannonade, the 
madder pantaloons, all that concourse and fracas 
so new and strange, did not put her to flight ; 
she sleeps in the sun on the threshold, roves 
upon the gabionade, and stretches herself on the 
Major's knee. At the first blast of my trumpet, 
she approaches and softly brushes my white gai- 
ters with her long black tail, fixing her great 
greenish eyes upon the instrument ; in fine, so 
amiable and affectionate is she, that some pretend, 
in that atmosphere of enchantment and sorcery, 
that it is the young lady of the house, who, loth. 
to quit the place of her birth, and at the same 
time wishing to elude the Major's assiduities, has 
assumed the guise of a black cat. 

" You may believe it or not, as for me, I 



216 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

caressed lier with, no more thouglit of evil than 
if she had been a velvet package. 

" What romantic dreams and gossip there 
were relative to this invisible princess of the 
Clocheton ! A fusileer of the line beheld her 
one night, in making the grand rounds of the 
house ; she accosts him, saying, 

" ' Noble sentinel ; assist me !' 

" And he replies, 

" ' Pass on.' 

The Zouave had scarcely finished this phrase 
of his recital, ere laughs of incredulity exploded 
throughout the circle of his auditors. For the 
first time, he recounted something improbable, 
so habitually veracious had hitherto been his 
Recollections^ that they became restive at the 
slightest excursion into the domain of fancy. 

He, meantime, nothing disconcerted, was 
about to continue in unaltered tone, when a 
brigadier of the gendarmerie, deprived of one eye 
unfortunately, and on his way to the Invalides 
of Paris, interposed in his favor, and very 
indignant at the ridicule, exclaims, 

" Will my testimony be sufficient, who have 
really seen a lady wandering at dusk near the 
Clocheton ?" 

" Were you still in possession of your hin- 
nacle-lamps^ brigadier?" demanded the sailor of 
the schtschejoleffs. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 217 

"I had all that was necessary to see clearly ; 
and what I saw, was plainly seen ; and the sen- 
tinel, of whom the trumpeter speaks, has cer- 
tainly not lied any more than myself." 

"Precisely, brigadier!" rejoined the sailor, 
" the moment your compass sets in the direction 
of the lady, she exists." 

" I do not say that the interviews were alto- 
gether similar, understand, especially as there 
was less benevolence on my part than on the 
sentinel's." 

The auditory smiled maliciously at this 
confession of the cognard^ as they called the 
gendarme. 

"And you parleyed a long time with the 
unknown, eh, brigadier ?" 

"I did what it behoved me, — my duty;" 
proudly answered the brigadier, and contrary to 
his usual demeanor as an honest gendarme, stood 
defiantly forward, as a personage already 
affronted by a contradiction. 

"No one pretends the reverse," insinuated a 
listener. 

"And rightly;" resumed the Zouave, "you 
say then, brigadier, that you as well as my sen- 
tinel in question, were challenged by an un- 
known?" 

" It was I that challenged her." 

" He demanded her passport." 

15 



218 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

'■ ' I demanded by whose permission slie was thus 
found within our lines. She did not reply, and 
went to seat herself on a large stone at the mouth 
of a cavern or pit about a hundred and fifty metres 
from the Clocheton. I then stationed one of my 
men in view of this individual to watch her 
movements, and ran hastily to inform the major. 
This officer, aware that nothing should be 
neglected in time of war, and that the eye of 
vigilance should never close, especially in these 
countries where the Greeks, multiplying con- 
tinually at Kamiesh and Balaklava, practise an 
unceasing espionage in the pay of the Czar, and 
daily invent new treasonable expedients; with 
perfect confidence in my sagacity and experience, 
replied, ' Yery well, brigadier, very well ; return 
to the grain-pit, ascertain the uncertain sex of 
this person and draw up a report.' 

" I accordingly repaired at -Q-YQ o'clock in the 
afternoon to the entrance of this cavern, after 
commanding the attendance of four men and a 
corporal. 

" The incognita was still there, the surveil- 
lance of the gendarme I had posted opposite to 
her, had not made her vanish into air. 

" * Madame,' said I to her, gently and sin- 
cerely, for the idea came into my mind, at this 
moment, that she might be the wife of an English 
grenadier in the neighborhood, making her 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 219 

evening promenade, 'Madame, are you indis- 
posed ?' 

'' Her response was a deep sigli. 

" I Y/as disarmed and touched, and more and 
more convinced that she was the vfife, probably 
the widow of one of our allies, and had not the 
courage to demand her passport. 

"She was pale, the poor lady, pale as a 
corpse, colourless as the white lawn that enve- 
loped her head. 

" ' Madame,' resumed I, mildly, ' are you in 
need of anything ?' 

"Another sigh, and not a word in response. 

"Is it the natural modesty of her sex that 
forbids her confiding in me? thought I. Does 
she fear to compromxise herself by soliciting aid 
of a man? Or perhaps, the presence of my 
squad may so intimidate her as to deprive her 
of speech? By an expressive sign, I ordered 
the soldiers to withdraw a little apart, and as an 
adroit expedient to inspire her with confidence 
and re-commence our conversation, I stated the 
question in the most sympathizing manner, 
taking the broad ground of a common humanity. 

" ' Madame, you are probably in want of 
food ?' 

" ' Oh yes, I am famishing, she cries, ' with 
faint voice, ' I have eaten nothing for five days ? 

" ' You will then accept a morsel of biscuit.' 



220 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

And darting towards the squads, I took a biscuit 
from tlie satchel of one of the soldiers, and quick 
as lightning returned to offer it to the unknown. 

" But lo 1 she rises haughtily from her seat, 
measures me with a look full of indignation, and 
turning on her left heel, impolitely disappears 
into the cavern. 

" ' Ah, Madame, Madame, what black ingrati- 
tude !' I exclaimed. And at the head of men 
and corporal, I rushed into the cavern in pursuit 
of the impertinent. 

" The profound est darkness reigned therein, 
vault, sides, floor, all invisible. 

" ' Halt ! comrades,' I commanded, ' till we 
procure a lantern for the elucidation of this ad- 
venture.' 

" I then dispatched a gendarme to the Cloche- 
ton for a light, posting ourselves, meanwhile, so 
that no one could enter or leave the pit without 
being apprehended. 

" The lantern soon came to enlighten us. This 
cavern consisted of a kind of small room cut in 
the rock, only a few metres in height, length and 
breadth, and scarcely more spacious than the 
coverts the French cantonniers dig on the sides 
of our great highways. 

"Complete solitude! no trace of living crea- 
ture, still less of the fair fugitive. 

"Who, then, is this mysterious being! We 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 221 

all saw Iter enter here, and yet she is not within. 
I explore the sides of the cavern, firing pistol- 
shots against them, the soldiers do likewise, and 
the reverberation of the rock indicates nowhere 
the presence of a secret asylum. 

" I was, I declare, vexed with myself for having 
yielded to sentiments of compassion for this sus- 
picions woman, instead of remanding her imme- 
diately to quarters as an intruder, and for a 
warning against vagrancy. 

" Meantime, I could not renounce the effort to 
discover by what secret issue the pigeon had 
flown, reluctant to confess she had won the game^ 
and searched with the more activity and earnest- 
ness from the report of the corporal, which I had 
moreover already heard, that during the last 
week, a woman's vestments had been found in the 
pit, a 'young lady's white hat, various chattels 
and engravings.. Finally, by trying the end of 
my sword-scabbard on the sides and floor of the 
apartment, I lighted upon a stone plate which 
covered a passage that might be explored by 
crawling on all fours. 

*' ' Bravo !' I exclaimed, ' bravo, comrades, the 
weasel has escaped this way, and we shall soon 
apprehend her. Attention! corporal, look keenly 
to the outpost !' 

" Immediately stripping off my jacket, and a 
martyr to duty, I slid cautiously, lying flat, into 



222 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

the subterranean passage. I swam, as it were, to 
the distance of two metres, on tlie gravel, with 
the aid of mj knees and one hand, bearing the 
lantern in the other. 

" ' Ah, Madame, Madame,' I murmured, 'your 
impoliteness shall be avenged, and you will learn 
to your cost, whether you can with impunity, 
sport with the sensibility of a brigadier of gen- 
darmerie.' 

" I felt as if already in possession of the delin- 
quent, when my head struck the end of the 
grotto. On the right, left, and above, the same 
obstacles : I was in a blind alley, a jar of rocks, 
and must even crawl backwards out of it as I 
had entered. 

" I executed this manoeuvre, but not without 
also executing a detailed plan of the receptacle ; 
the conclusion to me was evident, that this wo- 
man had escaped by an avenue cut in the other 
compartment of the cavern ; my researches must, 
therefore, be directed within, and in effect they 
were diligently pursued. * * =i« >k j dismissed 
my squad and lantern, retaining only the asso- 
ciate gendarme, and we two stood sentry, a few 
paces within and without the pit. 

" The night passed without any reappearance. 

" In the morning, on presenting a report, the 
Major ridiculed the apparition of this fantastic 
lady, and treated it as a fable, but I did not still 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 223 

relinquisli the prize. Accordingly my comrade 
and I watched unremittingly for a whole week, 
relieving each other every four hours. 

" ITothing appeared, nothing whatsoever, * * ^ 
lady, demoiselle, no one, in fine. ***** 
Nevertheless, I should, perhaps, have watched 
longer, but that, one morning, being sent by the 
major to the trenches, in search of some undisci- 
plined vv^orkmen, a fragment of pebble broken by 
the shock of a bullet, chanced to put ou.t one of 
my eyes. Will you now believe that what the 
Zouave recounts is true ?" 

And the good gendarme was enchanted with 
the effect produced upon his auditors, who deeply 
interested, awaited in silence, the end of his 
history. 

The sequel seemed to them rather tame, but 
the brigadier was too much the friend of truth, 
to be willing to invent peripetia for the gratifi- 
cation of curious listeners. 

Official relations of the siesje mention the 
apparition of a woman in a grain-pit, and the dis- 
covery in the same place of apparel and chattels 
of various kinds. This romantic history has 
been embellished, but the foundation is true. It 
is also pretended, that by subterraneous passages, 
the allied camps communicate with the cells of 
the monastery of Saint Georges, and that the 
monks of the fraternity have occasionally re- 



224 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

ceived the visit of a few bullets to admonisli 
them, that their presence could not be tolerated 
in the neighborhood of the armies, but on con- 
dition, that they would devote themselves to 
prayer and not meddle in worldly affairs. 

The majority of the Nil passengers having 
full leisure to indulge their curiosity, were in 
the habit of coming every evening after dinner 
to listen to the recitals of my trumpeter, who, 
flattered by such distinction, evoked his most 
interesting recollections. 

Some of his auditors, like myself, not readily 
comprehending all the operations of the siege, 
demanded explanations, which he was always 
most willing to afford. 

" Parallel No. 1, is the first construction, is it 
not?" 

"On the contrary, the last; the first con- 
struction becomes numerically the second, third, 
fourth, according to their order." 

" And where do they commence ? Or how 
communicate with one another ?" 

"By zig-zag branches, issuing from the foot of 
this celebrated Clocheton-house, and by similar 
branches, intersecting. — " 

"Thus, the parallel called first^ is the one 
nearest Sebastopol ?" 

uYes— " 

" And if another should be constructed, still 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 225 

nearer tlie besieged citj, tliis would be only tbe 
second ?" 

"Precisely. At tlie present time, July, that 
first parallel extends witboLit interruption as far 
as the faubourg of the Quarantine, and out- 
flanks the second on the left. The third runs 
also to the left till within less than three hundred 
metres from the sands of the bay, and flanking 
the second on the right. Do you understand?" 

" Not clearly." 

" And yet it is thus that they describe the 
position of our parallels, in all the Paris journals. 
Place ten of these one after the other, draw an 
imaginary line through the centre, those with 
odd numbers issuing to the left, those with even 
numbers to the right, the whole forming a zig- 
zag of more or less branches. Do not expect me 
to attempt a description of our siege operations. 
I have inspected but an inconsiderable part, and 
the portion, most familiar to me, belongs to the 
third parallel, beyond the point whence originate 
two ravines, uniting at thirty metres depth. 

" If my description be incomprehensible to you, 
take a map, seek for what is called the Fer^^e-bank, 
there it is that these two ravines join, and there 
too, thousands of Eussians conceal themselves to 
take a supervision from the parapet of the third 
parallel. Long since, would a battery, established 
between the French and English camps, have 
dislodged them from this position, had not the 



226 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

undulations of tlie ground, and sinuosities of the 
ravine protected them from our bullets. The 
enemy constructed ambuscades on this bank. It 
is also from behind it, that they execute fre- 
quent sorties upon the French right, and English 
left. In front of it is a little lake, into which 
empties a third ravine, which descending from 
the English works, re-joins the two first, and 
passes behind the Mdt Bastion. 

" The Yerte bank is appropriately so named there 
in spring time, isolated among all other banks in 
this country, ravaged by v/ar, ploughed by artil- 
lery, watered by blood ; at its base is a screen 
of poplars, reflecting their beauty in the waters 
of the lake, and quivering aspens with their vary- 
ing hues, and on the slopes little squares of 
gardens, enclosed with quickset hedges. 

" Then, may be seen on the lowest fall of the 
ravine rivulet, a mill, silent ; alas ! — without its 
tick-tack. The Russians have erected camp-bar- 
racks on the declivities of that deep valley we 
must one day cross. These barracks are visible 
on the right of the third parallel, while to the left, 
appear a house and church of the town. The 
table-land which separates this declivity from the 
slopes descending, on the other side, as far as the 
port, is protected by formidable batteries. It fell 
to the English in dividing the operations of the 
seige. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 227 

" The Mat bastion is notliing more tliau a 
ruin ; but it is a solid one. Six of our mortar- 
provers have in vain poured u.pon it bombs and 
grenados. It still resists, always replies, para- 
pet and embrasure, reinforced with madriers, its 
ditch provided with palisades, and with its coun- 
terscarp, a veritable porcupine, bristling with 
sharp stones and chevaux de frise. The exterior 
edges of our trenches are garnished with parapets 
surmounted by earth-sacks, which at regular 
distances, form battlements. The Eussians have 
imitated this plan, and the marksmen on either 
side, there test their skill. Steps cut in the earth 
in some parts, replace the parapets, and permit the 
battalions of defence to issue from the ditch, and 
repulse the attacks of the besieged. 

" I thus attempt to give you an idea of this side 
of our siege operations. The one with which I am 
best acquainted, is that which suffering has 
rendered most familiar. ISTow, at this juncture, 
the Malakoff tower and the Kedan concentrate 
public attention. 

" The English, ever seeking to be comfortable, 
live differently from us in the trenches. The 
little canteen of water, and satchel supplied 
with biscuits for two days, suffices not for them. 
" While the sentinel is on duty, these gentle- 
men ensconce themselves in the ditch, like an 
honest citizen in his house. They kindle a fire, 



228 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

drink tea, and peaceably smoke tkeir pipe, witli- 
out any disquietude as to what may and must 
inevitably happen. 

''The ruddy flame awakes tlie attention of tlie 
Eussian gunners, and a bomb descends into the 
middle of the chilly group. But this is nothing; 
they do not derange themselves for such a trifle ; 
they continue to smoke and drink their tea, 
while the corvee men, without a word, raise the 
comrade crushed by the projectile, and bear him 
phlegmatically oft' to the ambulance, or into the 
common grave. 

" The fact is, the visits of bombs and shells, 
which, in the early part of the siege, cast such 
affright among our trench-guardsj are now re- 
ceived with perfect indifference. Those happen- 
ing to be too near when the bom^b performs its 
excavation, get out of the way, or simply pros- 
trate themselves before it. 

" Such as have learned how to calculate by a 

glance, whether they are within the radius of the 

explosion, give it no more attention than if it 

• were describing its parabola, four hundred feet 

above the rising sun. 

" Many histories are recounted of brave infan- 
try soldiers running after a bomb to pluck out 
its match. But the match is as firmly wedged 
in the cavity of the bomb, as a certain tail, for a 
long time pulled by mankind, is fastened to the 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYB. 220 

body of the devil. A man's strength, therefore, 
mus't always fail in such an enterprize, and so 
perfectly assured are we of this, that if rushing 
towards a bomb threatening to explode, it would 
not be to wrest out the match, but to extinguish 
it, or give a repelling impetus to the terrible 
intruder. 

" The only true mode of avoiding the bursting 
of a bomb, is to practice the laisser alter towards 
it. A bomb never bursts where it falls — nor, 
furthermore, does it remain where it falls. It is 
better, then, to spring aside, than fly before it. 

" We have frequently seen intrepid soldiers, 
rushing upon a bomb to attempt to extinguish 
the match. They are either dead or decorated 
with the medal, or as is more frequent, left to 
oblivion in their regiment ! 

" Courage is sometimes sublime to folly! 
" One evening being on duty at the trenches, 
I was enjoying a gossip with our neighbor of 
the 39th, when the conversation turned upon 
bombs, shells, grenados, the musical halls of the 
Russians, etc. ; each described the sensation cre- 
ated in him by the thunder of artillery heard for 
the first time, what a shuddering the free pas- 
sage through the air of the enemy's projectiles, 
hissing death around him, excited in every fibre. 
" The Sergeant of the 39th had one fixed idea ; 
his dreams were of the cross and medal ; they 



230 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

were ever before Mm as tlie recompence of an 
heroic action, and he hoped hourly and instantly, 
that a bomb would fall in the midst of his pla- 
toon, and that it would be his privilege to dart 
towards it, wrench out the match, and thus save 
the life of his men. 

" ' But, said I, wretched man, that would be 
devoting yourself to death for the King of 
Prussia.' 

" ' Do y ou call it dying for the King of Prussia 
to sacrifice one's life for others,' he exclaims. 

" ' But you would save the life of no one.' 

" 'I would prevent the bomb from bursting.' 

" 'JSTo, poor visionary !' 

" ' I would wrest away the match.' 

" ' Impossible.' 

" ' It has been done, meanwhile;' 

"'Never!' 

'"I am certain of it.' 

" ' I am certain of the contrary.' 

" ' The match may be extracted,' said some of 
the others. 

" ' The match is riveted to the body of the 
bomb as the blade of your sabre is to the hilt.' 

" ' Bah ! I have read in history of such feats 
having been performed, and will show you that 
Sergeant Tourvieux, (his own name) can try to do 
the same. There is such a thing as im 5^5, trum- 



BECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 231 

peter, and knowing liow to use them. You shall 
see me handle a Eussian pumphin.^ 

" I had known so many braggarts in the ser- 
vice, that the brave Sergeant seemed to me one 
of the same calibre, and despite the danger we 
might incur, I should not have been sorry if a 
bomb had fallen, to put to the proof his heroic 
but stupid intentions. 

'' Chance gave this opportunity. Suddenly a 
well-known yioi^/oti resounded behind the paia- 
pet of the trenches, and a bomb scales this para- 
pet obliquely, and arrives, clapping its wings, in 
our gangway, which, from the proximity of a 
zig-zag, was perpendicularly open to the batteries 
adjoining ; the pumpkin, as the Sergeant called 
it, ploughs the earth as it rolls, and the match is 
in a blaze. 

" ' Beware of the nine-pins !' was the cry, and 
we all hastened to throw ourselves flat on the 
face, along the earthen wall, out of the way of 
the projectile, which was proceeding very inno- 
cently to explode at some distance. We were 
already preparing to rise unscathed, v^hen the 
confounded Sergeant, with his fixed idea, gives 
chase to the bomb, catches it as it is turning the 
zig-zag, and casting himself on his knees, begins 
a contest with it, like a fourU struggling with a 
pig he has by the tail. 

" ' Sergeant !' cried I, raising my head to ob- 



232 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

serve him (I could willingly have said idiot! but 
he was my superior in grade). ' Sergeant ! de- 
sist ! you will bring death upon us all !' 

" He gives no heed to my warning ; but very 
fortunately, doubtless, the match burning his 
hands obliges him to let it go, for the bomb again 
makes two or three turns, and explodes at not 
more than a metre's distance from the imprudent 
boaster. As soon as the smoke of the volcano 
was dissipated, and the fragments of the projec- 
tile all scattered, we rushed to the Sergeant, who 
lay extended like a corpse, face to the earth and 
arms stretched out. We supposed him dead^ 
but he arose, shook himself, and regarded us with 
a bewildered air. 

" ' Sergeant, are you wounded?' 

" ISTo reply. 

" ' "What. an escape you have made, Sergeant!' 

'' Still no reply. 

" ' Sergeant, refresh yourself with the canteen.' 

"Kot a word does he utter, but looks inquir- 
ingly around him, raises his head in the air, as if 
to see whether the bomb had clung to the canopy 
above, and burst into an idiotic laugh. 

" ' Kay, Sergeant, answer our queries.' But 
he appears utterly unconscious of the anxiety 
manifested. At length he opens his mouth as if 
to speak, but words fail, and to a new question 
addressed him, makes siorn that he understands 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 233 

notliing said. The unfortunate ! lie had escaped 
death to live a deaf-mute. 

" Less ill-fated than he, was a grenadier, stand- 
ing sentry ten paces farther : a splinter of the 
bomb had stricken him dead. 

" I have understood since, that this Sergeant 
of the 39th was still a deaf-mute. They dis- 
patched him to Paris, as a specimen of the dis- 
arrangement violent agitation may produce in 
our human machine. 

" As certain Kussian batteries have been bap- 
tised under the names of Fontriquet, Gringalet 
and Bilboquet (they did not exist in my time), 
thus each projectile has received a new denomi- 
nation in trooper-slang. 

" I remember that Berthier, the comrade who 
conducted me to the temporary ambulance, by 
Avay of diverting my mind from my accident, 
recounting the gossip of the siege, observed, 
that the evening previous he was near being 
killed by a perruquier.^ 

" ' The perruquier of the company ?' I de- 
manded. ' Indeed ! — the brigand !' 

" ' Oh, no !' he replied, ' a Eussian bullet, which 
might have carried off' my head, that I call per- 
ruquier, because it frizzed me so closely.' 

" A frequent cry among the battalions of the 

* Wig-maker. 
16 



234 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 

trendies was, salute the houguet ! wlien grenaclos 
twinkled in the niglit over our heads, — or else, 

'"''Fear not infantry I it is the cavalry! when 
they heard grape-shot raining on the ground 
outside our posts. 

"The famous crj, 'beware of the sauce pan! is 
replaced by that of, beware of the jpum/phin ! 
which must, ere this, have been substituted by 
another. 

" Balls are bees or prunes^ according to their 
calibre. 

'' Fusees are moths ; or swallow-fires, after the 
Turks. 

"The 5zsca?/ews,*' remark the resonance of the 
word, are citoyens.\ 

"In short, classifications of projectiles vary 
infinitely and continually, every one being at 
liberty to invent a term according to caprice or 
fancy. 

" One thing I have remarked, and others be- 
side myself, and which has astonished me very 
much, is the sensible difference, and at night 
perfectly appreciable, in the sounds made by 
balls ; sometimes, the ball whistles ; the harsh, 
shrill tone flies onward without diminishing in 
intensity, and ceases abruptly, without any 
smorzendo ; then again, it groans ; a lament 

* Loiig-T.firi-cliod mnslcots. f Citizsus. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 235 

traversing space, a cry of grief dying in tlie 
distance. Can it be tliat the ball wbicb whistles 
kills not, while the one that groans never fails? 

"It is not enough to possess conrage; there 
mnst be experienced courage ; this is quickly 
acquired ; two or three turns of watch at the 
trenches will suffice, and a man ceases to be a 
recruit after he has saluted one ball, and sees it 
crumble the earth of the parapet, without an 
instinctive recoil. 

"We have in our company, 2.faubourien (well 
understood in Paris). Extraordinary to relate, 
this fauborien was anything but gay. He was 
the most gloomy, taciturn, and at the same time, 
mysterious personage in the whole army. 

"A good soldier, good marksman, perfectly 
cool and intrepid, he has lived as a simple 
Zouave, during the six years that he has been 
enrolled under our banner; it is said, mean- 
while, that he is a man of cultivation, is often 
seen reading, and writes the daily correspond- 
ence for the Courier, 

" This original lived in the midst of us, as 
isolated and solitary, as if he had established his 
gourbi in the middle of Sahara. We style him 
the astronomer^ for he was frequently encoun- 
tered making love to the stars, when the clouds 
of the firmament were absent on temporary fur - 
lough. 



233 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" That I give a place in my recollections to 
this degenerate faubonrien, is because reminded 
of him in discussing the trenches and projectiles ; 
chance oftentimes brought us together on duty 
at the Clocheton ; and one day that I was ap- 
proaching the gabionade and contemplating the 
radiations of the batteries beside the town, and 
those of our own lines, he said to me, 

" ' I have just seen a queer bomb.' 

" I confess that I felt a thrill in hearing him 
speak. I was ignorant of his proximity ; did 
not know the sound of his voice ; had never seen 
him open his mouth but to eat soupe, and at 
first supposed it an earth-sack addressing me. 

" 'Yes,' he added, 'I have just seen a queer- 
bomb, or rather, a couple of them.' 

' ' ' Yery likely,' replied I, amiably, by way of 
encouraging the discourse, so vividly interested 
was I in this dawning intercourse ; ' very pos- 
sibly.' 

" ' I have seen a Eussian and a French bomb.' 

'"The occurrence is not rare.' 

" ' Certainly ; but these of which I speak, have 
indulged in a rather curious kind of exercise.' 

" ' Did they describe a parabola of more or 
less scope ?' 

" ' You are out of the line.' 

" ' Perfectly sure that I am not within their 
parabola, and very fortunate it is for me.' 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 237 



iC i 



They met and embraced.' 

" ' Impossible,' replied I, laughing vociferously, 
at the risk of vexing him, and forcing him back 
into his habitual reserve ; ' impossible I' 

" ' If it be impossible, then we need not discuss 
it further,' he answered, angrily, and again con- 
founding himself with the earth-sacks of the 
gabionade.' 

" I left him there without any anxiety for a 
continuation of the intercourse, and resumed the 
thread of my contemplations. 

" The Russians were that night prodigal to 
folly ; never, perhaps, had the fire of their bat- 
teries been so active ; nor was ours in arrears ; 
and the din was as if a hundred thousand 
claps of thunder came tumbling from the sky 
in one roll, or that the stars were falling, 
from the innumerable sparks that sanded the 
darkness. 

"At intervals, the crash and illumination 
would relax a moment, and a few bombs, soli- 
tary or in couples, still traverse the air. 

" The gunners are slackening, thought I ; the 
Russians meditate a sortie, and we are ready for 
them ; such tactics are familiar to us. I pre- 
pare myself accordingly, to execute the order of 
sounding the garde a vous! when my attention 
was attracted, I know not wherefore, to a solitary 



238 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

bomb issuing from tlie mat bastion ; simulta- 
neonslj, another rose from our batteries, and my 
eyes followed, with one glance, their ascending 
march. 

" A singular coincidence ! and a most original 
chance! on reaching their culminating point, 
they meet, clash, in contact, explode, and shower 
upon the darkness a thick cluster of fireworks ! 

" ' You were right, astronomer,' I exclaimed, 
' behold two bombs embracing !' 

"'It is not what I saw, still;' growled he, 
' this is nothing to it.' 

"'I wager, nevertheless, that in a thousand 
strokes on both sides, such an encounter would 
not be likely to occur.' 

" 'I tell you, however, that I recently beheld 
something better still.' 

" ' That is difficult to believe.' 

" ' This very evening, I followed the luminous 
track of two bombs, one from our side, the other 
from below ; these two bombs meet, and so com- 
pletely does match encounter match, as to extin- 
guish both, and consequently, the two bombs 
vanish from the sky, leaving no traces, in like 
manner with those we have just witnessed.' 

" ' Trumpeter sound the garde a vous f at this 
instant cried the of&cer on duty; and I rang 
out the garde a vous ! which served as a flourish 
in honor of the astronomer's long -how. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 239 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE FAMISHED riEVKETJX. — SICK AND WOUNDED, AND HOSPITALS 
or CONSTANTINOPLE. — GALLIPOLI. 

In passing the box one morning, in my daily 
round, I was hailed by the trumpeter : 

" Doctor," says he, " pray relieve the paysP 

The pays was the foot-soldier before men- 
tioned, — our Zouave's tenant. 

I had, indeed, remarked from the commence- 
ment of the voyage, the feeble, almost corpse-like 
aspect of this poor soldier, whose guardianship 
the Zouave had assumed through commiseration, 
and not from motives of mutual interest in the 
association. 

The Chasseur seemed to me oppressed and 
exhausted by long-suffering ; uncomplaining, 
asking nothing, he passed his weary hours in 
moody silence, sometimes inside the box, or else 
squatted against the outside, elbovvrs on his knees 
and chin buried in the palms of his hands as in 
a bandage. The fixedness of his look, yellowish 
hue of his prominent eyes, scarcely covered by 
the lids, though unnaturally elongated by tedious 
illness, — his air of passive resignation, obstinate 
silence, and everything about him had, since 



240 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

we left Constantinople, excited mj professional 
notice. 

But it had been impossible to benefit him by 
medical treatment ; he had invariably refused 
whenever I attempted any interrogation on the 
causes of his illness, replying: 

" There is nothing the matter." 

This morning, as my services had been re- 
quested by his comrade, his manner was less 
savage, and to my question : 

" Is your fever one of long standing ?" He 
answered : 

" Oh, yes, Major ;" a faint smile wandering 
over his bluish lips. ' 

"Wherefore, then, have you not sooner con- 
sulted me ?" 

" Oh, major, it is of slight importance ;" he 
replied, drawing the blanket around him as the 
sailors gave signs of deck-washing, " Of none at 
all. Major." 

" What is the date of your sickness ?" 

"Since we were at Dobrutscha. My fever 
has continued during the winter and spring." 

" In pronouncing the name of Dobrutscha, he 
involuntarily shuddered, as if his fever redoubled 
at the recollection of that dreadful country. 

"It did not prevent him from taking effec- 
tive aim at the Eussians this winter," added the 
trumpeter. 



EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAVE. 241 

I passed on. But, an hoiir after, on return- 
ing from my circuit, after the sun had dried the 
deck, I found him crouched in the same place. 
Coffee for breakfast was being distributed, and I 
observed that he was not associated in any mess, 
but merely nibbled a piece of biscuit. 

" Monsieur is mincing," again said the Zouave, 
" Monsieur is disgusted with his fare ; serve Mon- 
sieur on a silver plate." 

More and more interested, I knew not why, 
in behalf of this soldier, whom his comrade thus 
rallied, I conceived a suspicion that his emacia- 
tion and languor might rather proceed from con- 
tinuous privations than the paludian fever of 
Bulgaria. 

Long illness renders a patient so fastidious 
and nervous, that it was possible this young man 
did not eat because required to take his meals in 
mess. 

In active service, in robust health, having as 
condiment the fatigue of a long march, sentry- 
watch, or military exercise, he would not proba- 
bly feel disgust at dipping his spoon into the 
common bowl. 

While these reflections passed through my 
mind, the breakfast-bell rang, and the idea oc- 
curred to me that the succulent ordinary of the 
first class table might be more salutary than all 
the treasures of my pharmacy. 



242 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

I felt a sensation of remorse in enumeratino; 
tTie superfluous delicacies tiiat awaited me below. 
Turning to the store-room on tlie left, I ordered 
tlie steward immediately to furnish this poor 
phantom-Chasseur, with a piece of fresh bread, 
a mutton chop, and half a bottle of wine from 
our table — at mj own expense, of course, and 
with the injunction to be silent as to the name of 
the donor. 

" Ah," said the Zouave to me afterwards, " that 
was a striking scene in the drama, when the store- 
keeper deposited the cutlet on the knees of my 
fastidious comrade, placed bread and wine beside 
him, then withdrew mysteriously, without reply- 
ing to his interrogatories." 

The chasseur ate, or rather devoured that 
unlooked for pittance, on the morrow there was 
a like ration, the third day the same. His 
strength visibly recruited. On the fourth day I 
suppressed the subsidy ; but he did not fast, 
nevertheless. His nicety had disappeared with 
the return of strength, and I noticed that for the 
remainder of the passage, he no longer despised 
mess association. This serves to prove that there 
are certain complaints which may be cured with- 
out the aid of medicine. 

My chasseur, once more hale and hearty, 
recovered also his joyous, sociable temper, and 
showed himself apt at retort upon the Zouave. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 243 

I mentioned this rapid cure to the commander 
of tlie Ml, and as we liad on board, many in- 
valids of tlie same order, lie autliorised me to 
pursue a similar treatment. I sTiould liere say 
tliat never lias the company refused to pay for 
rations specially ordered by the physician for 
sick soldiers, as well on board other vessels as 

on the Nil. 

The company has ever sought to mitigate the 
rigours of a long passage on the open deck, and 
if the soldiers could not contrive to shelter them- 
selves somcAvhere at night, it is because covered 
space on board was lacking, and that the impos- 
sibility is virtual, and not a calculation to aug- 
ment the profits of freight. 

Since my navigations have ceased, it has 
been told me, that large boats belonging to the 
company have been converted into floating hos- 
pitals. There, nothing is wanting for the sick 
and wounded sent back to France ; the physi- 
cian is aided 'by nurses, and the vast mid-decks 
are filled with beds and frames, a kind of sus- 
pended couches, preserving their horizontal po- 
sition despite the rolling and pitching. This is 
the only proper berth for men seriously wounded. 
Happily, we are nearly free from the scourge 
which last year so harassed the allied armies ; 
the cholera no longer exists epidemically, and it 
would seem that Providence permits the retreats 



2M RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

destined for the wounded, to be hencefortli ex- 
clusively occupied by tbem. • 

Before resuming tlie recitals of my Zouave, 
permit me to say a word relative to the medical 
and surgical department of the army in the east. 

I lay aside all professional scrupulosity here, 
for the science and devotion of surgeons of the 
army and navy whether on land or sea, is a 
matter of public notoriety, and many have paid 
dearly for it by their lives. Even as far as last 
April, twenty-five had already fallen in active 
service; many more have followed since then. 
In the Crimea, next to the field ambulance, 
comes the divisionary, then, that at head-quarters, 
and one for convalescents. Hospitals are esta- 
blished at a distance from the Crimea. At Yarna, 
at the present time, victims of the siege replace 
the feverish and cholera patients of last year, and 
Marshal St. Arnaud chanced to have founded some- 
thing stable in transforming into a provisionary 
hospital, the two barracks at the upper end of the 
town. These vast buildings, whose fronton is 
adorned with a voluminous gold sun radiating on 
a green ground, is unceasingly filled and emptied 
with wounded, evacuated from the army ambu- 
lances. 

At every arrival of a packet or transport ship, 
previous occupants yield their beds to applicants 
with fresh wounds, and according to their condi- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 245 

tion, make themselves ready for Constantinople 
or for France. A small minority, alas ! may re- 
turn'to the trenches. Yarna is, therefore, the first 
halt in that road that conducts to the Invalides. 

Sick and wounded cannot be other than nume- 
rous in so considerable an army as that of the 
allies, an army occupied for nine months in the 
toils of a murderous siege, and exposed to the 
severities of a winter in tent, just issuing, too, 
from a terrible epidemic. 

This mass of soldiers absent from service is 
divided into three categories : 

Wounded. 

Fievreux. 

Convalescents. 

By fievreux^ they mean individuals confined 
by any cause other than wounds, and by conva- 
lescents^ those who, though not dismissed to their 
corps as cured, whether after cicatrization of 
wounds, or healing of internal affections, must 
yield their place at the ambulance or hospital, to 
new victims of war. 

The sanitary organization of the French army 
is now the admiration of our allies. It is the 
experience acquired in the African war, that has 
enabled army surgeons to practice in the East on 
a vast scale, without being ever unprovided, ex- 
cept at the beginning of the campaign, at Varna, 
when, in consequence of false directions, and 



246 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

delay of sailing transport-ships, medicine was 
wanting as well as many conveniences necessary 
to tlie organization and maintenance of hospitals ; 
but tliis was only a temporary crisis. 

According to the report of a chief physician 
to the Minister of War, dated January last, 
10,000 sick and wounded could then be nursed 
in the ambulances of the Crimea and hospitals of 
Constantinople, and as well nursed as at Gros- 
Caillou or Yal-de-Grace. 

The amount of the army having augmented 
since then, new ambulances and hospitals have 
been created. It was no more than just that the 
Sultan's dominions should give asylum to those 
who had been stricken by disease or Eussian 
arms, in defending the integrity of his empire. 
Accordingly Ms chief hospital of Pera contains for our 

use 1,200 beds. 

Dolma-Batche, the guard barrack . . 500 " 
The vast structure of the Eamish-Tifiish 1000 " 

Daoud-Pacha 800 " 

Quanledja-Bosphore .... 200 " 
Barracks of Gulkane, constructed in the 

rear of the seraglio, .... 1000 " 
Hospital of Maltepe, . . . . 230 " 
Ancient naval school of Kalki, .' . 250 " 
Polytechnique school, .... 1,500 " 
Besides, at Scutari, at Principico, and on 
board old vessels anchored before the 
Arsenal, and at the Dardanelles . 5,000 *' 

And in fine, I know not how many beds 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 247 

ranged in the middle of the saloons of the Kus- 
sian Ambassador's palace, which the soldier is 
so proud to enter, that his fortitude redoubles, 
and he recovers more quickly than elsewhere. 

It must be confessed that this palace is 
admirably situated. Its imposing falcade, with 
its vast galleries overlooking the Bosphorus, 
receive, unobstructed, the salutary breezes of 
Propontis and Asia Minor, and the hill of Pera 
sloping and rounding to its summit behind, pro- 
tects it from the emanations of the great and 
small burying grounds. 

The Endish, less numerous than we, had 
fewer sick, but many more dead. We know the 
remonstrances formally presented against the de- 
fective organization of their medical service ; they 
have since then, ameliorated it by taking ours for 
a model. They have evacuated a portion of their 
invalids upon the isles of the Grecian Archi- 
pelago, Khodes principally. 

In the night of the 11th of March, the hospi- 
tal, inaugurated amid the immense buildings that 
compose the Polytechnique School of Constanti- 
nople, was destroyed by fire. The populace 
commenced to pillage ; but the marines of the 
Marengo interposed. 

Sino;ular coincidence! An hour after the 
sailors had rendered themselves masters of the 
burnino- edifice, and towards one o'clock in the 



248 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

morniPxg, our screw packet boat, tlie Euphrate 
entered the Corne d'Or, with a detatcliment of 
one hundred firemen from Paris. 

In December, Canrobert announced 3,794 
sick in the hospitals of Constantinople, of whom 
were 1,387 wounded, and 266 Russians. 

There is in the Crimea, near the bay of 
Kamiesh, a depot for convalescents. This depot, 
perfectly organized, permits soldiers to return to 
their corps, immediately on being healed, and 
diminishes very much the ordinary rates of pas- 
sage. There were performed, at the hospital 
of Dolma-Bagt-Chi, during the months of Janu- 
ary, February and March, one thousand opera- 
tions, nearly all perfectly successful. 

In the Crimea, during March, there entered 
the ambulances, 7,585 French; in April, 5,600; 
the number that came forth healed, varied from 
1,064 to 1,399. 

I have introduced these details, which in 
reality constitute an episode in this book, in 
order that they, who are reminded in reading it, 
of some brother or friend sick or wounded there, 
may learn that they do not lack care and atten- 
tion. 

Discharged soldiers returning from the Crimea, 
especially those that were of the first troops sent 
to the East, do not consider themselves entirely 
out of the theatre of war, until they have lost 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 249 

siglit of the ruins of tlie old Genoese cliateau of 
Gallipoli. 

The Nil stops to-day before Gallipoli, in con- 
formity with the Quarantine laws. The greater 
part of our passengers contemplate with sadness, 
that sandy beach, where lie buried so many brave 
without the glory of having fallen in combatting 
the Eussians; they recal that last year, at this 
very tiuie, the divisions of the army, ready to 
undertake the campaign of Balkans, encamped 
here on the fountain heights, and not far from 
thence, in the plain of Boulair, they review with 
pride the site of their first halt, the point of de- 
parture of the marches that will conduct them 
before Sebastopol. 

Historians of the war in the East should not 
forget that it was here the allied armies fought 
their first, their most terrible battle — a battle 
where resignation was called into action, to re- 
place enthusiasm of courage. All performed 
their duty during these grievous trials, soldiers 
and generals, nurses and physicians, the failing 
supported by their example the more robust, 
the dying themselved adjured their survivors to 
look undaunted into the future, and panic in 
orders of the day, was stamped with the blot of 
cowardice. Accordingly, the army in quitting 
this hospital town, issued from it lessened, but 
not demoralized. 



250 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

In otlier times, it would have been a pleasure 
to me to tarr J awhile at Gallipoli. There, Turk- 
ish wretchedness is relieved bj gaiet}^, the East 
developed free from peculiar observances, and 
turbans appear less ridiculous than elsewhere; 
and I would v/illingly have accepted, as a place 
of exile, one of its clay huts, in the middle of. a 
green orchard, nnder the shadow of the old 
Genoese ruins. 

But now all is lifeless and repulsive, and the 
factitious life, the feverish animation which the 
sojourn of an Anglo-French army excited at the 
debut of the Eastern war, seems to have com- 
pletely exhausted this unfortunate bourgade. 

" Major," said the Zouave to me, as I was 
^bout to descend to shore, "Major, do you see 
that new house, painted a pure white, below 
there at the foot of that high wall, and in front 
.of the ground we have dug with our pickaxes?" 

" I do, and have never before remarked it." 

" "Well, it was, in my time there, the house of 
the Zouaves. Notice in passing, if you please, 
by what personages it is now inhabited. We 
built that house ourselves, to lodge our standard." 

I passed before this inhabited dwelling, and 
the wind and rain had already commenced the 
work of destruction. 

It is thus, too, with all that the French and 
English repaired or built last year. Their edi- 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 251 

fices are destroyed, their improvements Lave dis- 
appeared. Cholera had killed one-half the inhabi- 
tants, and banished the other. Our troops hav- 
ing departed, and the cholera with them, the 
surviving Gallipolians, emigrated to Lampsacs 
and the vallies of the Asiatic side, are returned to 
their homes, and seem neither to have learned 
nor forgotten anything ; — forgotten none of their 
habitual fatalism, their indolence, and native bar- 
barism ; learned nothing by contact with Western 
civilization. 

The only permanent memorial they retain of 
our sojourn is not an organized edileship, nor 
numbering of houses and baptism of streets — 
bagatelles of which they make so great account 
in Europe ; — it is the vast cemetery, where so 
many brave sleep in premature death. Ah 1 
never shall I forget passing Gallipoli towards the 
end of July, 1854 ! The cholera was then at the 
height of its ravages. The landing, ordinarily 
so animated and bustling, is silent and deserted ; 
a pale sentinel, whose rifle seems a burden too 
heavy to bear, leans motionless against the frame 
of the guard-house — an angle of shade, cast on 
the wharf by the shed, for his sentry-box- — 
while the Quarantine-officer replies in monosyl- 
lables to the questions we address him. He 
seems too feeble for conversation, withered in 
memory and intellect as well as body, whose 



252 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

emaciated members trembled witbin a grey cloak, 
soiled and rumpled from long wear. He knew 
that we arrived from France — bad bidden adieu 
to tbat beloved soil scarce eigbt days since ; tbat 
soon we sbould return tbere ; and yet be speaks 
not to us of France, inquires not if, at bome, 
tbey remember tbose wbose mission bitber was 
to combat tbe Eussians, and wbo, as yet, bave met 
no foe save tbe cbolera ! We ask : 

" Wbat news from Gallipoli?" 

" Is^ne." 

'' Is tbe cbolera verj fatal ?" 

" Yes." 

" How many soldiers die daily ?" 

"I do not know." 

" Is tbe bospital fall ?" 

" I cannot tell." 

" Is it true tbat two Generals are dead ?" 

"Yes." 

"Wben did tbey die?" 

" I know not." 

" Wbat are tbeir names ?" 

Witb a desperate aspiration, be pronounced 
tbe names of Carbuccia and Elcbino'en. 

Tbrougb tbe balf-open door of tbe guard 
bouse, I could perceive four otbers of tbe squad 
sitting mute and isolated in eacb corner — not one 
was smoking — wan, baggard and as if stupefied, 
tbey recalled to me certain soldiers of marine 



KECOLLECTIOIS^S OF A ZOUAVE. 253 

infantry, garrisoned in a colony ravaged by 

yellow fever. 

Our communication with Gallipoli, tliat day, 

was restricted to dialogues, to avoid incurring 

Quarantine at Constantinople the next morning. 
The Due d'Elchingen, second son of Marshal 

Ney, had died the previous evening. 

Having, for several days had premonitions 
of the disease, as is common during the preva- 
lence of epidemic, he, on the morning of the 
14th, learned the death of his mother, Madame 
ISTey. This sad intelligence caused him such 
emotion, that almost instantly, symptoms of 
spasmodic cholera ensued, and on the same day, 
at four in the afternoon, he expired. 

Eight days later, I again stopped at Gallipoli, 
and this time, could wander in the Thebaid of 
its streets, for there was not now the Quaran- 
tine of Constantinople to apprehend. 

A gendarme fully equipped, a real gendarme 
like those of France, cast his vigilant eye from 
end to end of a bazaar — was he commissioned to 
arrest malefactors, disturbers of the peace or 
robbers ? Alas ! there were no longer merchants 
or customers, and out of several hundred shops 
of the bazaar, three or four perhaps, had unbarred 
the front, hermetically sealed and padlocked 
since the invasion of the scourge. The honest 
gendarme, faithful to his orders, thinking of 



254 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 

nouglit but his duty, erect as in his best days, 
stood majestic, on the threshold of that wooden 
barrack, that trembling chateau which a bill in 
large letters denominated, Gendarmerie Imjperiale. 
Now and then, his boot-heel would break the 
silence of the march, a pebble of the highway 
re-echo the touch of his iron scabbard, and the 
rowels of his spurs jingle like hand-bells. For a 
moment, I saw him alone in the principal alley 
of the bazaar. He was hastening to intercept a 
Levantine boy, emerging from a by-way, carry- 
ing a basket of fruit on his head. This was in 
obedience to the orders of Greneral Levaillant, then 
commanding in the peninsula, who had prohibited 
under severe penalties, the sale of fruits, which, 
in these countries, they have the pernicious 
custom of cuUins^ before matured. The use of 
unripe fruits does not certainly produce cholera, 
but while the epidemic prevails, fatal influences 
may be thereby engendered. 

The brave gendarme, safe-guard of the public 
health as well as order, was on his way to test 
the ripeness of the young Levantine's prunes, 
when, seeing me in passing, he exclaimed, 

" Eh — parbleu, is it you, Doctor, the author 
of my son's birth ?" (literal.) 

Yisiting my family, a few months previous, 
in a small town, I had. in the absence of the 
regular physician, officiated at Madame's ac-. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 255 

couchement, and as with Ms puritanical ideas, tlie 
worthy husband dared not say, " vous avez accouche 
mafemme;' he had employed that ingenious peri- 
phrase. The worthy niilitaire had in the ardor 
of youthful ambition, exchanged the quietude of 
Canton life for active service in the elite gendar- 
merie of Paris, and immediately on his reaching 
the capital they had done him the honor of 
entrusting Mm with a mission in the East. Such 
are his own expressions. 

Honest and stoical individual! While all 
others yielded to discouragement, reckless of 
accoutrements, good order, or France itself, this 
gendarme, always in spotless equipments, calm, 
energetic, freshly shaven, as on his fairest Sun- 
days in brigade at the Canton, had, as he said to 
me, set his heart on worthily representing the 
gendarmes in general, and his legion in par- 
ticular I 

It may assuredly be af&rmed, that without the 
intervention of the French gendarme, the West 
would have failed in its plans of Oriental reform. 
The gendarme cleared the way, and inspired in 
the popular masses respect for authority. Snice 
he has exercised his magistracy in the European 
quarters of Pera, in the labyrinths of Stamboul, 
and in the Turkish cities where the allied armies 
have sojourned, the number of crimes and' 
offences has already diminished two-thirds, and 



253 eecollectiojsts of a zouave. 

public security is no longer Avliat it once was, 
an unmeaning term. 

That cosmopolitan canaille, tlie scum of west- 
ern Europe, wliicli has taken refuge in Turkey, 
now trembles before the buff-jacket, and prepares 
to go in quest of a new impunity on the Asiatic 
shore. 

Gallipoli is then re-become what it was before 
the existence of the camp at Boulair^ but I have 
faith in its future. Peace or war must, sooner or 
later, conduce to its improvement. War will 
advance it as a place of arms, if Eussia ever be 
attacked elsewhere than in the Crimea ; peace 
elevates it into [the richest and most frequented 
commercial port of the Levant, should the popu- 
lations of Thrace, Romelia, and the Danubian 
Provinces, one day form a confederation. 

When I last quitted Paris, a young woman, 
who still weeps, inconsolably, her beloved — a 
victim to cholera in the camp of Boulair, and 
interred in the cemetery of Gallipoli — gave me 
a little box of flower-seeds, and I promised to 
sow them around the distant tomb. 

But where lies the absent lover? Which is 
the mound of earth that covers him, among all 
before my eyes? Behold hundreds, one after 
another, alike nameless and unknown! Here 
and there, above the wild herbs, appears a little 
warped wooden cross, and winter rains have sepa- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 257 

rated tlie four large stones placed cross-wise, by 
tlie sexton, at tlie head of each grave. There 
• they all lie, confounded in one resting-place, dis- 
tinguished by no prerogative — sleeping, as in 
life, row by row. 

Only by the rise of hillocks is it indicated 
that, on such a day, the scourge mowed down 
more or less victims. In the beginning of the 
epidemic, the graves are small and contain but 
one body. Soon it augments in intensity, and 
they enlarge, till they become actual trenches, in 
which the dead are heaped. Then again, the hil- 
locks are gradually isolated, as the scourge mows 
down fewer victims. 

I entrust to chance the duty of fulfilling the 
pious mission confided to me. I open the box 
and throw broadcast the flower-seeds it contains. 
May one, at least, germinate where the mourner 
wished them all to bloom ! 

The cemetery of Gallipoli is even more sad, 
more desolate, than that of Yarna, which I have 
seen inaugurated and filled. 

But let us forget such lugubrious memories ; 
let us leave them behind, as we also do this ill- 
fated shore. 



258 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE FIRE — COMBAT OF MARCH TWENTY-THIRD. — COMMANDANT 
DUMAS, — VULTURES. — THE COMBION SEPULCHRE. 

The voyage from Constantinople to Marseilles 
is interrupted by frequent stoppages : at Galli- 
polij tlie Dardanelles, Smyrna, Syra, and Malta. 
Ships often take another course in quitting the 
Dardanelles, by way of Pir^us and Messina. 
The latter is the shortest passage, and the one we 
pursued. 

At Messina we may almost believe ourselves 
already in France. The boat lies alongside a 
steamer just from Marseilles, bringing news from 
the beloved mother-land. Scarcely are we 
anchored before the Messina Lazaretto, ere Paris 
journals come on board. They contain circum- 
stantial details of the Malakoff affair of June 
18th, and reports of operations in the Sea of 
Azof. 

Passengers of the first and second class, as 
well as the soldiers, are all eager to hear the 
news, and groups of auditors organize around 
individuals reading aloud, and interchanging dif- 
ferent gazettes. The Zouave narrator was, for 
awhile, deserted, but they Yerj soon again 



RECOLLECTIONS OF, A ZOUAVE. 259 

returned to his side, when the Presse and the 
Siecle had been devoured, even to the advertise- 
ments. 

We indeed thirsted more than before for the 
details which the Zouave had so liberally given 
us, and obliged him to make a retrospective his- 
tory of various peripetiae of that ever memorable 
siege. 

He was led, I know not how, to speak of the 
conflagrations kindled in Sebastopol by our 
bombs and squibs, and, as apropos thereto, 
recounted to us the bloody combat of the 22nd 
of last March. 

We were just emerging from the canal of 
Messina, and, in a little while, would appear in 
the horizon, the flames of the volcano of Strom- 
boli. 

I shall never forget my ' sensations on that 
evening, while listening at the foot of a burning 
volcano, to the recital of the insensate fury of 
man. 

" The English," says the Zouave, " rained upon 
the town congreve-rockets in equal proportion 
with our bombs, and a conflagration, aye, a fire 
not less ardent than that which there reddens 
the summit of Stromboli, soon devours that part 
of the town situated behind the central bastion. 
"I was then with the troops on guard at the 
Mamelon Yert. 



260 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 

" We could not perceive tlie focus of tlie "bon- 
fire, but its position was indicated by tlie rever- 
berations in tbe heavens, and tbe luminous 
tracks of our bombs and rockets, wkicb, to feed 
this brazier, all converged upon it. While on 
our left, an incessant rattle of musketry was ex- 
changed between our extreme parallels and the 
Eussian ambuscades; all was tranquil on the 
right, and the guard-battalion, arms in hand, pro- 
tected the workmen running the flying sap on 
the side of MalakofP. As long as the moon gave 
light, they left us undisturbed, but no sooner 
did she withdraw her rays, than the Russians 
arrived in thick masses and attacked us with 
boldness and ardor truly extraordinary. 

' ' As always in such occasions, they received a 
welcome, and so hearty a one, that their front 
lines remained upon our ground. We had al- 
ready hoped that the rest of the band were pre- 
paring to wheel about, when suddenly, another 
column, stronger by ten or twelve battalions, 
turning the ravine of Karabelmia, charged our 
flank, and at the same moment fell upon the 
English lines near by. We repelled them in- 
stantly, with the 7th and 11th light infantry, but 
the English not being in force, evacuate their 
trenches, and the Russians instal themselves on 
the parapets and fire upon us copiously from 
thence. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 261 

" This was not to be endured. 

" What ! to suffer ourselves to be sliot like a 
covey of partridges? Never! allons, tben ! If 
we are lost, if we must die, let us die to tlie last 
man, overtiirned in that deep ditch, at whose 
summit stands the enemy— let us, at least, march 
to death, empty our cartridge boxes, notch the 
edge of our sabres 1 

" The colonel of the Zouaves, wounded in the 
head at the first assault, had no need to cry to 
my comrade Fritcher and me, — 

" ' Trumpeters! sound the charge !' 

" We already had the brass at our lips ; and 
our guard-battalion, too, had so little need to 
hear us, that ere a note was sounded, as if each 
man had instinctively divined and felt the mar- 
tial ring, they bounded with drawn bayonets, 
npon the talus whence death emanated. 

" Then ensued a conflict, upward and down- 
ward. There, our battalion arrived on the slopes 
of the trenches, like the rolling tide on the shelv- 
ino- strand, and as that tide in alternate ebb and 

CD ' 

flow each time brings in and leaves behind new 
pebbles on the sand, so does our battalion recede 
and return, leaving always new dead on that 
steep shore of combat ! And this rise and fall 
of combatants endures two hours; two long 
hours!— till, at length, at high tide, the roaring 
sea, broadcast with brave, has invaded and over- 



262 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

flowed tlie parapets, from whence tlie Prussians, 
terrified and decimated, fly in disorder ! 

" And meantime, while tlie Zonaves and 
Infantry fight thns hand to' hand, blade to blade 
with the imlooked for guests of Karabelnaia, the 
preliminary fusillade had not relaxed — on the 
contrary it had extended, and there was a warm 
conflict with the English parallel ; the enemy 
enveloped us in one convergent fire, and would 
have cut us down to a single man, but for the 
sublime initiative of our bayonet-charge, and as 
we should also add, without the offensive re- 
joinder of our allies, which their reinforcements 
brought into the trenches. 

" By the glimmer of the flashes, I saw standing 
on a gabion and fighting in the front rank, till 
he fell struck by two balls, Commander Dumas 
of the Engineer corps. And, at my right, and 
on my left, fell also my captain and Lieu- 
tenant! The ball that killed my Captain pro- 
ceeded from a side fusillade, the bayonet which 
ran my Lieutenant through the chest was one of 
those that bristled the talus of the trenches. I 
saw it more than once, that bayonet plunging and 
burying itself under the Lieutenant's tunic ; and 
fain would I have turned it aside with my hands, 
but both were necessary to manage my musket 
and ward off those that menaced my own 
life. 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 263 

" And, moreover, it was not tlie Knssians wTio 
projected their bayonets upon lis ; the}- simply 
held them con.ched, and a blind force, that force 
of the overflowing tide, those floods of men that, 
as I have before said, welled up at our back, im- 
pelled us irresistibly upon them. 

"Poor Lieutenant! Thrown backward, he yet 
could not fall; the pressure of those behind up- 
holds him still; on each side, the same wall; he 
then sinks forward, clutching with his hand the 
end of my hood, till, head and shoulders bent 
lower and lower by the ever rushing wave, suc- 
cessive combatants pass over him, marching on 
his back ! When I think of him, I seem to feel 
again in the throat, that tight compression of my 
buttoned capuchon, from his dying efibrt not to 
let go his hold, as if in clinging to it he still 
clung to life I 

" A half com.pany of our regiment distinguished 
itself specially among the combatants — out of 
fifty men losing twenty -five, but then, how many 
Eussians did they not fell during that terrible 
night ! 

"On their return from escorting a General 
Officer, they suddenly find themselves isolated 
on the right, and, in attempting to rejoin our 
main division, fall into the midst of a battalion 
of the enemy. Our Zouaves march on, quick- 
step, three and three, shouldering their muskets 



264: EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

— in an instant, thej receive, muzzle at the 
breast, a furious discharge, and su.cli as do not 
fall, stop .... not from panic, but because it is 
impossible to proceed, for, tbey behold them- 
selves, hand to hand, breast to breast, with a wall 
of Russians, whom, the glimmer of the powder- 
flash shewed them extending in masses as far as 
the eye could reach on both sides. 

" What was to be done ? 

"Fire upon them? 

" But after three discharges every man would 
be down — 

" Should they run ? 

" For shame ! they thought not of it — 

" Must they perforate this battalion in order to 
rejoin the regiment, whose trumpet peal they 
heard re-echoing not far distant, on the height, 
behind, and a little to the left of the Eussians? 

" Yes that is the thing ! They must plunge 
headlong into the midst of the Moscovites like a 
flock of sheep through bramble bushes between 
them and the pasturage, they must tra- 
verse this thicket of Otkosch Chasseurs, . . . they 
must do this, or perish ! 

" And if die they must, better far to die in the 
attempt ! 

"Oh! they gathered no Avar-council to decide 
this bold manoeuvre ; they did not deliberate on 
the chfLnces of success or defeat ; they acted 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 265 

spontaneonsly, simultaneonsly, and above all, 
lieroically.' 

" Francois Per on, that Hercules of tlie broad 
chest and full neck, bearing his musket as a child 
does a rush-twig, raises his head, turns to his 
men, and waving his arm, exclaims, marching 
over a Eussian whom he has just overthrown, 

" ' Boys I no shots! kicks, cuffs, and butt-ends 
of your muskets, and onward !' 

" And, forthwith, he dashes forward, all fol- 
lowing, and the Eussians give way! 

" A comrade, on the right of Francois, with 
his musket-end, levels a chasseur attempting re- 
sistance. At the left, another, who has already 
crushed two or three endeavoring to withstand 
him, stops to breathe, and shading his eyes with 
his hand, measures the density of the enemy's 
ranks still to be penetrated. Then again, at the 
feet of Francois, a Moscovite, wearing a helmet 
pointed as a lightning-rod, raises himself sullenly 
on his elbow, and seeks to trip our brave soldier 
by insinuating the stock of his musket between 
his legs. 

" The officer in command of these heroic 
Zouaves, found himself in the middle of the 
group by this manoeuvre. He obeyed Francois, 
as if the subaltern were repeating his own orders, 
and a quarter of an hour after, the twenty-five 

18 



266 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

survivors of the half-company rejoined the regi- 
ment. 

Brave Francois ! he might now be an officer, 
could he but read and write. The order of the 
day, the medal, and admiration of all was his 
reward. 

'^ The combat which commenced at eleven, 
ceased about one. We remained masters of the 
post, and the workmen stoically resumed their 
tools. The nights being now shorter, it was 
necessary to use diligently every moment, to 
consummate the operations on the track, opera- 
tions utterly impracticable by day. 

" The engagement having taken place within 
and beside our works, it was possible for us to 
raise our wounded immediately, and transport 
them to the ambulances. 

" What a sad occupation! No lantern to go 
in quest of our unfortunate comrades, for the 
light would have served for a target to the can- 
nons pointed toward us. Men of the Intendance, 
ordinarily charged with such duties, accordingly 
wandered amid the dead and dying, seeking in 
the darkness, any that might retain the spark of 
life. 

" They went wherever a groan summoned 
them, or a dying cry of pain implored a last 
succour. 

" The Eussian wounded being more nume- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 267 

rous than the Frencli and English, it sometimes 
chanced that at the moment of getting off with a 
litter on which was a mutilated soldier, lifted up 
at random, it would be ascertained by the dialect 
of his agony, that the sufferer was a Eussian; 
then they replaced him on the ground, and the 
litter served for an ally or compatriot. 

" This is dreadful ; but as it should be. * * * 
Is it not perfectly just to succour our own be- 
fore strangers, enemies especially? The turn 
of wounded prisoners will come, and when once 
in the ambulance, they shall be treated and 
nursed as our brothers. 

"At daybreak, we cast a rapid glance over 
the theatre of carnage, before returning to the 
shelter of our trenches. The fortress-gun had 
already bidden us good morning. Here and 
there, heaps of slain indicated that in this or that 
spot, there had been hotter work than in others. I 
endeavoured to take an eastward view, to ascer- 
tain how far we had advanced on the parapet of 
the Enoflish trenches, but could form no definite 
traces, the outline embraced nought but this 
human slaughter-pen. I thoaght, meanwhile, 
that I could divine the position of the gabion on 
which died Commander Dumas, whom the en- 
gineer-soldiers had borne off as soon as he fell. 
The gabionade in that place was blinded with 
Eussian bodies; they had paid dearly for the 



268 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

death of this brave officer. Thej now informed 
me, that I had been mistaken, in supposing him 
to have been stricken by balls. He had died as 
my lieutentant, run through the breast by a 
bayonet. 

"You remember, my Captain fell beside me 
on the right, nearly at the same instant as my 
Lieutenant expired on the left. I learned, in the 
morning, that the regiment lost another Captain, 
who must have died a thousand deaths instead 
of one. 

" This hero fought with enthusiastic ardor, and 
early in the conflict, when already chiselled with 
sword-cuts, he had engaged hand to hand with a 
a Muscovite giant, and with advantage. This 
frail officer — a miniature warrior — an exquisite 
type of those elegant Light-Infantry captains, 
who display not less valor in combat than grace 
at review — more agile and free than my 
Lieutenant, parries the bayonet, whose point 
had already grazed his skin, and overturns his 
adversary by a sabre-cut across the neck, when 
another Eussian applies a musket-barrel to his 
temple; — a miracle! the shot is fired, but the 
bullet, instead of taking a direct course into the 
brain, sheathes itself in the scalp, and makes 
nearly half the circuit of his head. 

" This wound was not mortal, but overwhelmed 
by the shock of the discharge, he falls senseless 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 269 

in tlie midst of Eussians, who essay to finisli him 
with their bayonets. 

Ill-fated Captain ! He still breathed when the 
battle ceased, bnt the corv^e-men were not able 
to find him. Bravest of the brave ! it was to the 
very front of our van that his courage had 
impelled him. Perchance, he might have been 
saved, had the sun lighted the scene of carnage ! 
The next morning his dead body was picked up 
at some distance, on the brink of the English 
trenches ; he had crawled thither in the dark- 
ness, and sunk down amid the earth-sacks and 
gabions overthrown by the enemy's artillery. 

" The Eussian General demanded an armistice 
to gather up their dead. Four hundred were 
found within our lines. 

" I am one of those who this day sounded ces- 
sez lefeu, and at noon the white flag — the neutral 
banner — was displayed on the French and Eus- 
sian sides ; the armistice lasted five hours. 

"What a mournful ceremony ! Eussian of&cers 
and their soldiers descend the Mamelon Yert. 
They approach unarmed, and stop on the borders 
of the field of battle. Our of&cers and soldiers 
scale the reverse side of the trenches, advance, 
also unarmed, and pause at twenty or thirty 
paces from our sapping operations. Salu- 
tations are exchanged, at least between the 
respective officers, and the culling of dead com- 



270 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

mences. Then, tlie Eussians take wliat belongs 
to them, and we do the same ; but we finish 
first, and lend them our aid. It was thus that 
we soldiers enacted politeness, while the epau- 
lettes were busy passing compliments. We bore 
our dead inside the trenches, and the Eussians 
pile theirs behind an ambuscade. 

" On this day, the plain and more than simple 
dress of our officers contrasts strongly with that 
of the Eussians, who seem as if apparelled for a 
review of their Emperor. At other times, Eus- 
sian of&cers have been attired in the rude mili- 
tary capote. Nevertheless, they were more 
appropriately dressed than the English, clothed 
a la BalaMava^ or, in other words, in fancy 
frock-coats and indescribable head-dresses. 

" The majority of them have gloves of the 
color of fresh butter, or fingers loaded with rings. 
Some converse in French, and offer cigars to our 
ofiicers, others more reserved, watch in silence 
the removal of the dead. They appear to sym- 
pathise more with us, than with the English. 

"I heard an Englishman, jealous, no doubt, 
because of a Eussian of&cer's tendering a cigar 
to a captain of the line, without rendering like 
attention to him, say, aloud : 

" ' We shall never depart hence until we have 
demolished SebastopoL' 

" ' Then you will remain here a long time,' 
replied the Eussian. 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 271 

"Their soldiers were ill-clad and in filthy 
plight, but on the other hand, young and robust. 
Their litters appeared to have been much used. 
The garniture of linen and straps was black with 
coagulated blood. I remarked the body of a 
Greek, a perfect giant; his feet and head ex- 
ceeded the limits of the litter on which he was 
carried ; there still hung at his belt a huge mal- 
let with a long handle. This must, doubtless, 
have been employed by him in spiking our 
cannons. 

" I remarked also among the slain, three men 
in citizen's dress. 

" How did they happen there? As volun- 
teers? I think not. As marauders, perhaps, 
and other marauders may have poinarded them 
last night. 

" A pile of more than four hundred Eussians^ 
fallen beside our works, had been formed ; all of 
whom were believed to be defunct, when sud- 
denly, an arm was seen to move in the midst of a 
medley of motionless others. 

" To draw instantly out of the heap, him to 
whom this arm appertained, was impossible ; 
they must remove, one by one, the layers of 
corpses, and thus restore life to a poor devil, 
issuing most opportunely from a long insensi- 
bility. A moment later, and he would have 
followed his comrades into the common grave. 



272 EECOLLECTIOXS OF A ZOUAYE. 

" The non-commissioned Eussian officers, su- 
perintending tlie removal of the slain, often dis- 
puted the possession of a soldier's body, each 
incited by a desire to render the last duties to a 
comrade of his regiment, whom death has, not 
unfrequentlj, made it difficult to recognize. 
This .emulation has something holy and touch- 
ing in it. 

" I know that it is said, they only dispute 
thus, with the end of lessening their corvee, 
and that their officers vie with each other in 
havinsj the smallest number of dead to bear 
away and inter, for each regiment sends a de- 
tachment to fulfil this funeral service; but I 
have attentively watched the different phases of 
these altercations, and have also acquired some 
words of their language, and can affirm, that 
never did a non-commissioned officer suffer any 
other than himself to raise from the battle-field a 
soldier of his company. 

" The ground should soon be cleared, for the 
troops of the outposts have sent a hundred men, 
and the work proceeds more quickly than if 
confined only to the employees of the Intendance. 
Oar Zouaves exhibit the greatest ardor and 
activity in searching for the dead appertaining to 
them. They are intent on finding Commander 
Banon, who has disappeared, and who, the Kus- 
sians protest, is not a prisoner in Sebastopol. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 273 

We finally discoyer him completely hidden be- 
neath three or four layers of dead Russians, 
when the last row was about to be removed. 

" Hail Commander! you have still your cross, 
sword and uniform, for you have made the walls 
of your tomb so thick, and killed so many that 
would fain have killed you, that the vultures 
could not despoil you as they did my poor lieu- 
tenant, whom we found completely stripped ! Yes, 
profiting by the last hours of night, the vultures 
winoinsf their flio^ht both from the lines of defence 
and attack, have already stooped upon the charnel- 
house I To the Russians, were wanting the boots 
of which you have heard, and the little leather- 
bao[ containinsf their monev, attached to the 
knee ; to the French, also, the crapaud, the 
strong bos suspended from the neck and resting 
on the breast, =^ * ^^^ * as well as their watches 
and jewels, and oh! profanation! of some Star 
of the Bazaar, tvitliout doubt, those, whose gar- 
ments had not been damaged by use or conflict, 
we found all naked, clothed only in one layer of 
blood! 

" The pillage of dead enemies has in it some- 
thing barbarous, odious, and sacrilegious ; the 
pillage of our own dead is a crime, and I believe 
that we should applaud, if all found guilty of 
such acts, were shot. 

" It would not be difficult to discover the cul- 



274 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

prits ; thej do not delay till their return to a 
garrison of France or Algeria, or for a passage 
to a European town to traffic in their booty. 
They seek to realize profits, even during the 
campaign. 

"Accordingly, in the Turkish battalions, we 
have Moors from Algiers, Oran or Constantina, 
who carry on an actual commerce as lapidaries, 
jewellers and exchangers. If a man wishes to 
hazard any article, he addresses himself to them, 
or to buy something, they will sell it. Does he 
desire to contract for a loan, security being un- 
doubted of course, their capital is always dis- 
posable. They are, therefore, the depositaries, 
or rather, receivers of stolen goods, for all the 
thieves and marauders of the army, and scruple 
not, moreover, to practice thieving and marau- 
dering on their own account. 

" There is a fourhi carried on by the Zouaves 
very different from this night-gleaning, which 
consists chiefly, in gratuitously wringing the 
necks of fowls belonging to an easy -tempered 
burgher, drinking his wine, or stroking the chin 
of his wife or daughter, when worthy the atten- 
tion. 

"Can it be, then, that these vultures, these 
night-prowlers have a language of their own, a 
special telegraph which enables them to recog- 
nize each other in the darkness, and to forbear 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 275 

attacking tbe same prey wTien making their 
inspection of tlie dead? Have they really, arti- 
cles of agreement, treaties according to which 
they peaceably divide the common spoils, Enssian 
abandoning Kussian to French, and English and 
French abandoning their comrades to the Eus- 
sians? From the time that we have beseiged 
Sebastopol, the victims of war have not passed a 
single night out of the common grave, and 
escaped being despoiled by marauders, and never 
have these marauders aroused the attention of 
our sentinels by disputing the share of booty. 

" But the time of the armistice is rolled by. 
The common sepulchre has been dug ; the heroes, 
meetly appareled, are lowered into it ; the chap- 
lain in attendance, pronounces his benediction, 
and the earth is heaped upon them. * * * * 
Farewell ! to morrow, perchance, it may be our 

turn 1 

And now, the truce-flag has vanished, and 
each returns to the ambuscade, bastion, trench 
or battery, and the voice of powder recommences 
to roar. 



276 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

REST. — SEWING. — READING. — ENNUI. 

" For fifteen days after this terrible niglit- 
affair, we rested. Eested, did I say ? Ko ; we 
worked as we liad done for six months, in exca- 
vating, erecting batteries, arming them and ad- 
vancing step by step, inch by inch, line by line, 
towards ambuscades which we would scarcely 
annihilate, ere they again sprang up ; towards 
fortifications, incessantly growing stronger, in 
proportion to the breaches made by our artillery. 

" But what matters it ! the victory must be 
ours : for of all that still combat before Sebasto- 
pol, there is not one that does not take for a 
model, the heroic courage of those who have 
already died at their task. Arduous, dangerous, 
as is the work of the trenches, we still prefer it 
to the monotony of camp-life. 

'' You cannot conceive how we were consumed 
with ennui and impatience, when condemned to 
pass a long day of idleness under the bonnet de 
police, (foraginy-cajj) the tent with which you are 
familiar, and which like ours, sheltered but two 
hermits at once. 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 277 

" I flatter myself, Fritclier and I were indus- 
triously inclined, and our solitary liours rolled 
by more swiftly. 

" At such times trumpeters are veritable sine- 
curists. To sound the order for the corvee, ma- 
noeuvres, exercises, etc., constitutes the entire 
duty. 

" In the evening only was there visiting from 
tent to tent, to learn the news, then each would 
re-enter his turne in revived spirits, provided he 
had not heard the funeral oration of some old 
comrade. 

" The French trooper calls resting, not being 
actually engaged in battle ; we rested thus until 
after Easter. On Easter-day, the Kussians, who 
are of the Greek Church, that is to say, they do 
not acknowledge the same Pope as the one for 
whose safety in his dominions, we maintain a 
garrison, demanded a truce of twenty -four hours, 
in order to chant mass and vespers comfortably. 

" Canrobert refused ; our chaplains officiated 
with the smoke of powder for incense, and the 
roll of cannon for bell-chimes; and could not 
the Eussian priests do likewise ? 

" On this same Easter-day, it was said, that the 
number of men wounded in the trenches by the 
enemy's artillery, was reduced to ; so also for 
admission into the ambulances, of fievreux^ cho- 
lera patients, or sick of any kind. The same, 



278 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

too, in reckoning tlie dead. TMs did not con- 
tinue: on the 9th of April, Easter-Monday, at 
five in the morning, more than five hundred 
pieces of cannon intonated at once, a continuous 
and pauseless gamut of furious discharges. 

"I was not on duty at the time, and was 
sleeping beside my comrade Fritcher on our 
mochadoes-carpet, v^rhen the alarm tore me from 
the delights of a dream which I have never since 
been able to recommence. I dreamed of the 
nymph of the Clocheton ; I beheld her in raiment 
of white silk passing to and fro in front of our 
tent, as if waiting for me to issue forth — and just 
as I was about to say to her : ' Fair damsel, con- 
descend to enter,' lo! this horrible fracas un- 
sealed my eyelids, and I felt the earth tremble 
beneath me, the canvas also shaking from the 
vibration of the air, the supports as if uprooted 
in their foundation, and I expected to see the 
edifice tumble upon our heads. 

" ' Hallo ! old fellow,' exclaimed Fritcher and 
I in a breath, ' is the real chambardement com- 
mencing ?' 

" And we both darted outside, as if to assist 
at the representation of the drama, for which a 
full orchestra was playing. But the day was 
dull and sombre, rain was falling and obscured 
the horizon ; no animation, not a movement on 
our breast-lines, only groups of curious indi- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 279 

viduals, interrogating from one tent to another. 
There was nothing, in fine, announcing that the 
regiment was getting under arms. 

" Evidently we were not of the partj, and 
returned, exceedingly vexed to the shelter of our 
umbrella. 

" The battalion not being required on guard at 
the trenches before Tuesday, the next morning, 
we were left tranquil in our tents ; tranquil ! at 
the beginning of a general bombardment ! 

"And yet, I assure you, notwithstanding the 
contrariety of seeing and doing nothing, never, 
since the commencement of the siege, did Fritcher 
and I employ more profitably the leisure hours 
of a compulsory inaction. 

" The serenade without served to keep us 
awake. The crescendo of the symphony attained 
an immeasurable development, and our ear could 
easily recognize, above the different bass fur- 
nished by the guns of greater calibre, the paix- 
hans and cohorns, the ricdchement^ by divers 
intonations of the ordinary batteries. 

" Heavens ! what a din ! The steeps of Chero- 
sonbsus will be levelled; the Crimea be rent 
asunder ; the sea engulph its plains and moun- 
tains ! 

* When the ball, instead of hitting or stopping, bounds on 
from place to place. 



280 EECOLLECnONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" And to wliat intent all this ? To burst tlie 
walls of Sebastopol ! 

" Work on, brave cannoneers 1 work hard at 
your artillery ! Make us a breach, and however 
small it be, the Zouaves will be the first to pass 
through I 

" And what were we about, during this tem- 
pest, my comrade Fritcher and I ? 

" We rectified our household affairs, repaired 
our wardrobe, read, prepared letters for the 
courier, and looked out, now and then, to ascer- 
tain whether the rain still blockaded us, or if we 
could sally forth to learn the news, or pay a visit 
of politeness to our English neighbors. 

" Such expeditions were impossible. The 
cannon seemed as if driving the rain before 
it — now, it is the reverse. 

"I had promised Fritcher to read aloud a 
chapter of Uncle Tom\s Cahin, and also the East- 
ern correspondence of an old Paris journal, bor- 
rowed from the baggage-master; but I wished 
first to repair my poor habiliments, which time 
and war had most rudely handled. 

" You denizens of a city cannot imagine how 
a soldier in campaign loves and respects his vest- 
ments. In time of peace, or in garrison, he only 
bestows such care on them as consists with obe- 
dience to the regulations; in war, it is another 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 281 

tiling — lie considers tliem as his second skin, and 
heals their wounds with pions solicitude. 

" Every hole or rent recalls to memory the 
sabre or bullet of the enemy ; each blood-stain, 
the dying comrade he has supported amid the 
carnage, or the Kussian he has vanquished in 
close combat ! And when these wretched gar- 
ments — 

** * These garments blue, by victory worn,' 

As says Beranger — become naught but rags, and 
are replaced by the Intendance, he preserves a 
fragment as a precious relic, and places it in a 
corner of his bag, as something on which, one 
day, his family may look with pride. 

"I accordingly unroll my little bundle, not 
much larger than a tobacco-pouch, and spread 
it on the earthen bench, of which you know, 
within the turne. 

" Here is black, red and white thread, given 
me by the pretty pedlar of Philippevile, when 
bidding her farev/ell in departing for the East. 

" How vividly does memory recall jou, pretty 
maiden, even here amid this roar of cannon ! 

"You were right in saying that this thread 
would serve as a link between usl But, how 
liable at any moment to be broken. 

" See, now, by an involuntary start, from the 
sudden crash of the cannonade, in joining the 

19 



282 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

ends of a needleful to wax it, I liave snapped the 
thread. 

" Truly, I feel ashamed thus to transform my- 
self into a peaceable seamstress, while the great 
battle is preparing 1 

"Here, too, is a thimble; a thimble! But 
how you laughed in giving it to me. It could 
only serve as a shield to your delicate finger. 
And besides, my callous digit can dispense with 
such a guard; the needle will break ere it 
prick blood therefrom — and if my blood must 
flow, it will be from wounds of a different kind. 

" Behold the needle-case you have stored with 
needles, like a quiver full of arrows. 

" Here are scissors also ; Ah ! these came not 
from you ; it is a gift, as you said, of ill omen. 

" And thus was it that this day rolled by in 
the tent. I mused and stitched like an old por- 
ter in his lodge, while the fiery tempest raged 
without. 

" I listened at the same time, but without any 
curiosity to divine which spake strongest, be- 
sieger o^ besieged, in this artillery dialogue, 
where bomb answered bomb, shell replied to 
shell, ball to ball, rocket to rocket ; and I was 
but little disquieted concerning the victims of 
the controversy. * * * * j^ ^^s not my turn 
to be wounded or killed. * * * * Accord- 
ingly, I sewed on with all the earnestness of a 



KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 283 

tailor at his scraps, and as if, after to-morrow, it 
would no longer be possible for me again to 
handle a needle. In effect, I worked by inspira- 
tion; there was no presentiment of what was 
impending over me, but I acted as if forewarned. 

" I put a new seat in my breeches, of English 
cloth, Lord Eagian cloth, double-milled kersey- 
mere, of the best quality, of a shade precisely 
similar to that of the regulations. Indeed, for 
such a purpose, the English fabric is worth ten 
of the French. 

" I had carefully preserved this piece in my 
bag since the affair at Inkermann. It was part 
of an English of&cer's vest, a fragment drawn 
during the armistice out of the bloody mire, 
and which I dried and cleansed, because of its 
excellent quality. 

"Never have I despoiled the dead. It is 
repugnant to me, and, moreover, not honest, but 
here the case is different. I picked up this scrap 
as a waif, and probably at a remote distance 
from the body to which it belonged, and then, I 
already suspected that we were encamped for 
more than a day before Sebastopol, and that our 
trowser-seats would have time to wear out ere 
the town should be taken. Add to these con- 
siderations, the absence of the master tailor re- 
maining at the regimental depot; thus every 
man must be prepared himself to mend the 



284 RECOLLECTIONS OE A ZOUAYE. 

breaclies made by time and combat in bis ap- 
parel. 

"Tbere are Parisian gossips wbo pretend that 
our uniform is patched like a draugbt-board, or 
tbe swaddle of a Harlequin. Not so, forsooth ! 
too easily are procured pieces of assorted colors, 
too many pantaloons and vests every day re- 
duced to fragments, for any necessity to join red 
to blue, or blue to red. In Africa it was differ- 
ent ; there, a man had time to wear out his uni- 
form — here, others wear it in his stead. 

" Fritcher devoted himself to another kind of 
work, in repairing our four pair of shoes. We 
did not use the Eussian boot, but adhered to the 
gaiter, which we thoroughly polished with a 
species of clay obtained from the soil of Inker- 
mann. 

"I had finished sewing, while Fritcher was 
still occupied, and to entertain him, I gave him 
choice between a chapter of Tom and the journal. 

" 'Let us have the journal,' said he. 

"'You are wrong,' I replied: " We left off 
at the chapter where the mama runs after the 
boat on floating ice, and it is far more interest- 
ing than the correspondence of these Messieurs.' 

" ' Certainly, it is more interesting, and I 
should like to know where she lands, that poor 
woman ! But, meanwhile, tell me what there is 
new in the papers.'' 



EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 285 

" I unfolded the journal, and sought for the 
column headed, 

" ' Eastern Correspondence.' 

" ' Telegraphic despatches, 0' 

" ' Kews from Eussia, 0' 

' * Kews from the Baltic, 0' 

' * Well,' exclaimed Fritcher, ' so much for the 
news,' 

" ' Patience !' said I, rather disappointed, ' per- 
haps, I have not examined it properly. Ah ! 
here is something relative to Zouaves;' and I 
read aloud the following to my auditor : 

" A gentleman encountering some Zouaves, 
says to them, — 

" ' You have very fine moustaches.' 
" ' Certainly, our moustaches are luxuriant. 
And fortunate are we still to possess them,' 
replies a Zouave. 

"'And why should you not?' enquired the 
gentleman. 

" ' Because of a solemn oath taken the day of 
our landing in the Crimea; picked Irish regi- 
ments of the English army swore to cut off their 
magnificent whiskers with the end of their re- 
volvers, if the Zouaves should mount to the 
assault before them : and the Zouaves, on their 
side, pledged themselves to sacrifice their mous- 
taches should the Irlandese chance to outstrip 
them.' 



286 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

'' Fritcher and I regarded eacTi other in silence, 
and simultaneously twirled our moustaclies. 

" After an instant's mutual contemplation, 
Fritcher, laughing, demanded if I had ever heard 
of this solemn oath ? 

" 'No,' replied I, 'have you?' 

" ' ISTever.' 

" 'Are you satisfied now with the jou.rnal?' 

" ' Yes, yes, no more of the Eastern corres- 
pondence.' 

" ' So be it.' 

" ' Listen ! do you hear how hot it is getting 
on the Karabelmaia side ?' 

"In effect, the firing redoubled in violence, 
just as I was about to recommence Uncle Tom. 

" Is it not a singular coincidence that I should 
have conceived the idea of thus employing my 
last day of inaction in camp ? 

" I was to be wounded the following evening, 
to receive in the shoulder that same cylindro- 
conical ball, whose history I have recounted to 
you, and henceforth it would be impossible for 
me to set the household in order. 

" Another coincidence. While, after finishing 
the seat, I was engaged in renewing the knees of 
my breeches, I said to myself, as memory re- 
verted to the pedlar girl, — 

" Ah, how happy it would make me to obtain 
a furlough of one month ! then I would cheer- 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 287 

fully return to be killed in battle. Wbat an 
opportunity if a Eussian would give me a scratcb ; 
not too deep a one meantime,— and above all, 
not of tlie kind to scar my visage, but merely in 
suck delicate, reasonable proportion as to gain 
me a sick leave. What a hono hesef! 

" Twenty -four kours after tkis lono lesef day- 
dream, I fell, as you know, in sounding tke ckarge. 
"But alas! Almigkty God kas punisked me 
for kaving dared to limit witkin my desires, botk 
tke force and tke deptk of tke wound. I koped 
to be only temporarily invakded,— I am disabled 
for life ; my military career is ended. It is tke 
will of God! 

"Blessed be His koly name!" 



288 KECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 



CHAPTEE XY. 

POST-PREFACE. — KETURN TO FRANCE. — LA JOLIETTE. — FALL OF 
SEBASTOPOL. — RENCONTRE WITH THE ONE-ARMED TRUMPE- 
TER. THE soldier's SACRIFICE. HIS PROMISE. 

Thus did the humble Zouave Trumpeter re- 
count to us his recollections of the great siege, 
and we listened till the beloved mother-land 
appeared on the horizon. For myself, who, by 
profession, bade adieu, and returned to France 
regularly once a month, it would seem that, 
blunted by custom, I should greet the shores of 
Provence as the artisan quitting his workshop at 
evening, hails the door of his dwelling, fatigued 
and desirous only of repose. 

No: those long days of a navigation passed 
amid the martyrs of war, — that common exist- 
ence on the same raft with glorious invalids, to 
whom home had for so many months been only 
a dream ! — the responsibility I had assumed to 
bring all, once more, alive, to their natal soil, 
abandoning not one to the yawning deep, — these 
causes and others beside, made me salute France 
as did my passengers— a battalion of unknown and 
mutilated heroes — with love, with enthusiasm ! 

Men of wealth and leisure who, year by year, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 289 

seek in travel, relief from languor and satiety, 
demanding of the Rhine, the Alps and the Pyre- 
nees, something new, nnlooked for and exciting, 
the Joliette Quay, while the war continues, will 
present you that exciting, new and unlooked for 
something, which the Pyrenees, Alps and Rhine 
refuse. 

Go, then, station yourselves on this quay, when 
the semaphore of ISTotre-Dame de la Garde gives 
signal of a packet-boat from the Levant. You 
will no longer find there, woollen bales from 
Smyrna, casks of leeches from the Danube and 
Caramania, packages of silks from Lebanon, 
stores of Syrian madder, or hags of old brass and 
silver coin, wherewith steamers were freighted 
in the sunny days of peace. Factors of the 
Echelles have closed their counting-houses, and 
military Intendants become supercargoes. And 
now, see the cargo appear, even before the 
ship is moored to the landing; see the press 
and agitation on deck, the eager gaze of impa- 
tient happiness; — hear that echoing cry of joy — 
behold those arms raised to heaven, as waving 
their dingy, faded caps, worn and perforated by 
balls, they salute the cheering crowd on shore ! 

Ah, it is a noble sight, the arrival of a convoy 
of wounded, invalided, convalescent soldiers; 
one of the most pathetic scenes of the war-drama, 
a picture where history, past, present and future, 



290 EECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

may be read in one look. And with what reve- 
rential emotion do they contemplate them — these 
living relics, these ruins grazed by death, these 
heroic crumbs of the victorious army still there 
below, — far, too, too far away ! 

It is not difficult to imagine the delicious 
stimulant that nerved these troopers, even to the 
rudest and most abandoned, on again beholding 
that land of France, which they had left more 
than a year since, rifle in hand, intoxication in 
the brain, knapsack on the back, and indifference 
at heart — going, without thought beyond, to that 
distant point where duty commanded ! 

Since then, they have fought, and they have 
suffered ! They have seen their ranks thinned, 
a ad comrades fall to rise no more ! They, too, 
have fallen ; but Grod has raised them again, and 
they come to ask of the sun of their infancy, the 
health and strength they have lost in the service 
of their country. 

They comprehend, now, what native land 
means ! 

And behold among them, those who, during 
our entire passage, remained squatted in the 
hold, inert, as if a Eussian ball had lopped their 
two legs — -lo ! scarcely is there a signal of their 
native mountains in the hazy horizon, than, new 
Lazaruses, they return to life, rise and rush to 
the hatchway to salute her — their dear country ! 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 291 

All are joyous and happy! He who has a 
family awaiting him, and he who has none — for 
whom no heart is disqnieted ; the rich and the 
poor ; the soldier whose time of service is not 
yet expired, and the one discharged from duty. 
The regimental depot, or Hotel des Invalides, 
will receive the orphan and the destitute, whether 
mutilated or the fievreux — the two terrestrial 
paradises, to the camp of Chersonese. City, 
borough and village hail as a triumphant hero, 
the glorious son who returns to his birth-place ! 

I experienced, then, an inexpressible pleasure 
in delivering safe into the hands of the Inten- 
dance of Marseilles, the deposit entrusted to me 
by that of Constantinople. Henceforth, I never 
more assume the charge of lives like these ; and 
in bidding adieu to my Zouave trumpeter — 
prompt to answer the call, and descend to the 
quay, followed by his protege, the foot-soldier — 
I, at the same time, bade adieu to the Nil^ to the 
port of Joliette, and functions of sanitary-phy- 
sician. 

Since then, days and weeks have succeeded 
each other, events transpired, and no longer 
enjoying, as in the past, recitals of the actors in 
the great siege, I was compelled to have recourse 
to the journals for the history of that gigantic 
contest. They afforded me intelligence, but at 
the end of every paragraph, I regretted my post 



292 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

of auditor beside the Zouave's box — regretted 
also my profession as naval surgeon, wHcb would 
have permitted me to discover, on board ship, 
some new narrator, like mj Trumpeter ; and to 
quell these repinings, I determined to detail, in 
writing, the conversations of the intrepid Man- 
chot. 

I had finished this book, when two occurrences, 
scarcely hoped for, caused me to re-open it an 
instant : the fall of the Eussian fortress, and 
a rencounter with our Zouave. 

The great news having spread through Paris, 
I wandered with the crowd in quest of particu- 
lars. 

Everywhere, on the Boulevards, and at the 
corners of the streets, groups clustered to listen 
to the reports of impudent gabblers, better 
informed than the telegraph itself. The taking 
of the Malakoff and evacuation of South-Sebasto- 
pol, already failed to satisfy them ; according to 
their assertions, the whole Eussian army had 
bitten the dust, and from Perekop to Balaklava, 
from Eupatoria to Kertch, from north to south, 
east to west, the Crimea, the most brilliant jewel 
in the crown of the Czars, the entire Crimea be- 
longed to us as does Algeria. 

I passed on, away from these gaping, silly 
loungers, but ten paces farther, encountered 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 293 

others more silly and credulous still, drinking in 
the words of orators even more hyperbolical 
than the first. 

Insatiable stupidity of the masses ! Is it not, 
then, glory enough for the survivors of our bro- 
thers to have, in three hours combat, wrested 
from the beseiged that key of a town at which 
the artillery had thundered in vain for a year 
past ? Does it lessen the triumph of the victors 
to have only diminished the resistance of the 
vanquished ? 

The more energetic the defence of the soldiers 
of the Czar, the more laurels on the brow of ours. 

And, meanwhile, I have been able to realize 
the extent of our victory, in learning that the 
Kussian forces, after six consecutive assaults, had 
retreated step by step, themselves destroying 
their forts and walls, burning the remainder of 
their fleet, and putting an arm of the sea between 
them and us. Certainly, they must have enter- 
tained a high opinion of our intrepidity and per- 
severance, Alexander's Generals, thus to abandon 
a place, where they still possessed fifty thou- 
sand balls and five hundred port-holes ! 

I had then set out in quest of information, 
with the rest of the world, at the time that Paris 
started at the contact of the electric spark, an- 
nouncing the capture of the Malakoff tower, 
when my eyes were attracted by the cechia of a 



294: RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

Zouave, closely followed bj a string of curious 
idlers. I, at first, - paid no attention, supposing 
myself witness for the thousandth time, of one 
of those common ovations which, since the com- 
mencement of the Eastern war, attend every new 
sgldier appearing in public : for, at present, it 
must be admitted that every disabled soldier, 
traversing the streets of Paris, comes from the 
Crimea. This, I suppose to be one, advancing, 
pale and wasted, walking with difficulty, sup- 
ported on one side by a staff, and on the other 
brushing the houses of the foot- way ; he has just 
emerged from a hospital appropriated to those 
wounded elsewhere than in combat. 

'No matter ; he is a victim of Menschikoff, or 
Gortschakoff ; he is a ghost from the East, and 
the gaping crowd form a sympathizing escort, 
and certain loungers always thirsty, French in 
particular, surround him lovingly, and drag him 
from one cabaret to another, to season with 
bumpers of wine the recitals of his battles. 

I had ceased to think of the Zouave-cechia, 
when I heard several persons in passing, mur- 
mur, " He is wounded." This remark awoke 
my attention ; I listened to others, adding, " He 
is one-armed." Then, seized with sudden inspi- 
ration, and as if assured that I was about to see 
again, my brave and joyous passenger of the 
Nil, I darted into the midst of his cortege, and 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 295 

forcibly usurping tlae place of the nearest, ex- 
claimed, even before recognizing bis face, — 

" Ab ! bow is it witb tbe Trumpeter of tbe 2d ?" 

It was bimself, my bero of tbe ambuscades, 
tbe chef d^oeuvre of resection, my invalid sol- 
dier, still bearing bis left arm in a sling, resting 
on bis red plastron.'^" 

And we clasped bands — ^I pressing in botb 
mine, bis still free and vigorous one. 

Tbe frank-bearted soldier, sans reproches as 
well as sans peur^ uses no formal circumlocution 
varnisbed by politeness, to express wbat be feels 
at tbe unexpected rencounter of an individual ; 
in abrupt, bonest terms, be evinces bis displea- 
sure as well as joy ; accordingly, I could read in 
his sparkling eyes, what be too read in mine, 
our mutual satisfaction at tbe meetino;. 

" Ab ! well, comrade," said I, " I hope you in- 
tend to bang yourself." 

"In truth. Major, I would give my whole 
arm to have sounded the charge — and what 
a charge I" 

" Comrade Fritcber has sounded it for you." 

"Poor Fritcber! do you not remember that 
he relinquished his part before Pelissier played 
the great game." 

" True." 

* Breast-plate or cuirass. 



296 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 

" But such was the earthquake and roar of 
thunder, that he must have been awakened on 
high, and like me, have applauded our succes- 
sors." 

The crowd increased around us ; an eager mob 
listening curiously to our words. They pressed 
closer and closer, as if the Zouave had arrived 
from Sebastopol on the telegraph-wire, and we 
were forced, to continue our conversation, to 
abandon the foot-pavement, and suddenly take 
refuge in a passing coach which bore us rapidly 
away, far from their importunity. 

I, too, yielded to the general influence, and was 
so delighted at the rencounter, that it seemed as 
if the narrator of the Nil had arrived, this day, 
from Kamiesh, and could give me unpublished 
news of the eighth of September. 

The brave boy ! he had not known it longer 
than myself. 

" Ah, Major," he replied, to one of my ques- 
tions. " I belonged to the third parallel, and 
since my departure, they have dug the fourth 
and fifth ; whatever information I possess rela- 
tive to this last news, I have, like you, obtained 
from the journals." 

"The last warlike exploit you recited to us 
occurred before the Mamelon Yert, you were 
there, are acquainted with the ground, and can 
render a more accurate account than anv one 



EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 297 

else, of tlie victorious marcli of tlie assaulting 
columns on tlie eiglitli of September." 

" Yes, as far as this ; — I can understand tliat 
our columns, after the extension of tlie last 
parallel, not having sucli a distance to traverse 
before reaching the Korniloff bastion, at the top 
of which stands the Malakoff tower, must have 
arrived at the enemy far less crushed and muti- 
lated than on the eighteenth of June. I can also 
comprehend, that they could sustain themselves 
on the tower, the redoubt of the Mamelon Yert 
or Kamshatka being no longer armed against 
us, the bastion of the great Eedan occupied in 
repulsing our good allies, the English, and the 
Eussian ships that might bring their broadsides 
to bear within the fortified port, having enough 
to do in keeping without the range of our heavy 
mortars." 

" All this, I, too, can well comprehend ; but 
this victory must have been dearly bought 1" 

" Y' iw,porte I I should like to have been a 
fraction of the odd money with which it was 
defrayed." 

" Be comforted, you have paid in advance." 

" And I hope to begin afresh." 

" How ! are you not discharged from service ?" 

" Oh, no ! my name still remains on the regi- 
ment list, and I merely enjoy a temporary fur- 

20 



298 RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAYE. 

lougli as a convalescent. "Well, Major, I will 
confess to you wliat it is that I most earnestly 
desire ; the regiment is still in tlie camp down 
there, and my most ardent wish, my utmost am- 
bition is to return thither : — and I hope, that if 
again wounded, it will be in daylight." 

'' Absurd ! your arm is still in a sling !" 

" Yes, but it is gradually recovering its former 
vigor, and besides, my left arm is the injured 
one, and the right is strong enough for both." 

" Your place, in my opinion, is at the Inva- 
lides." 

" I do not wish to enter the Invalides at twenty- 
two years." 

" True, it would be rather sad." 

" As I had the honor of saying to you, I long 
to re-behold Sebastopol — I wish to descend again 
the ravines of Carenage, Karabelnia, Anglais 
and Boulets ; — to roam at pleasure through that 
proud city, before whose gates I so long wound 
my horn for admittance. I would fain look once 
more on the fauborg whither I went for plunder, 
discover the ruins of the house that supplied me 
with the mochadoes carpet and furniture for 
fuel; in fine, I long to bid good morning to 
every battery and bastion, from the extreme 
point of the Quarantine Fort to the farthest re- 
doubt of the Bay of Carenage, to the Quarantine, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A ZOUAVE. 299 

M^t, and Central bastions, to tlie Jardin battery, 
great Eedan and Korniloff bastions, redoubt of 
Kamsbatka, battery de la Pointe, and du M^t, 
redoubts of Selinski and Yolbynia, and termi- 
nate my promenade witb a foot-batb at tbe month, 
of tbe Tcbernaye. I wish, in short, to sound a 
new ^as de charge on tbe slope of Fort Constan- 
tine, and escort Gortscbakoff beyond tbe ditcbes 
of Perekop." 

I forbore to interrupt tbe brave young man ; 
and as be proceeded to unfold to me bis ima- 
ginary future, enthusiasm irradiated his manly 
features ; and when he drew forth his mutilated 
arm from the scarf, and pointed southward, as if 
to shew me that he could again use it, I felt the 
other, which was clasped in mine, burn and thrill 
with impatient ardour. 

" Adieu, Major," said he, after a moment of 
silence ; — " adieu." 

"Ko," replied I, " au revoirP 

" Au revoir^ be it then !" 

" I have recounted to the public, the epic you 
recited to us on board tbe Nil^ and as you pur- 
pose to commence a new one, I should like to 
recount that also ; promise me, then, the narra- 
tion of your future war adventures." 

" I promise it." 

" And furthermore to direct to me the first 



300 EECOLLECTIOKS OF A ZOUAVE. 

Zouave wliom yon enconnter arriving from the 
Crimea, wounded on tliat glorious day of Sep- 
tember the eighth." 

" I promise this also." 

" Au revoiTj then, and good fortune attend 
you !" 

" Au revoiTj and Heaven be your guard !" 



THE END, 



July 1, 1856. 

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